AutoNumbers

[Guest]

Is there anyway that the AutoNumber could include some letters? For example,
I would want to start out the first number as AMU01. The reason for this is
to make sure that representatives would be putting the information in the
correct place since the autonumbers could repeat because of the different
tables.

 

[Douglas J. Steele]

Nope, no way. If you really need that format, you'll either have to store it
as two fields, create a query that concatenates the two fields and use the
query wherever you would otherwise have used the form, or else "roll your
own".

However, since the only purpose to an autonumber field is to provide a
(practically guaranteed) unique value that can be used as a primary key, and
1, 2, 3 serves that purpose just as well as AMU1, AMU2, AMU3, I question the
reason for this. It's rare that the value of the autonumber is even shown to
the users.

 

[Guest]

Well I use that ID(Autonumber) as a source for the records so that we can
pull the records up by doing a search on that particular number. AMU1 and so
forth can be used but I would want it to autopopulate so that numbers are
duplicated.

 

[Jeff Boyce]

I'm not sure I understand. Are you saying that the users are entering data
directly in the tables? (I hope not!).

Since each table's autonumbering is independent and unique, you could (and
would) expect to find the same autonumber showing up in more than one table
(e.g., perhaps the first row in each table has an autonumber = 1). So
what?! They don't mean anything, and don't relate to each other.

Can you explain your situation a bit more?

Regards

Jeff Boyce
Microsoft Office/Access MVP

 

[Guest]

Well i guess I'm doing something wrong then. The users are filling out the
form and the information is being put in the table. Not sure how else to do
this. I know that from reading posts on there, they say something about
doing it through a query and I don't know much about that. Guess I have a
lot more reading to do.

 

[Jeff Boyce]

I misunderstood, then. I thought you were saying they did the data entry
directly in the table. You just explained that they are doing the data
entry via forms.

The notion with queries is that you could use a query against your table to
get only the rows you want, sorted in the order you want, then have your
form use the query as the source, rather than using the table directly.

Regards

Jeff Boyce
Microsoft Office/Access MVP