autonumber question

[JohnE]

This is a general question regarding the autonumber. Is
it possible to customize the autonumber to say:
1) have is start at a different number?
2) have it include letters
I ask because it was asked if there could be some
automatic custom numbering done for the records. My
first thought is there is no control over the autonumber.
Is there a way to alter the autonumber?
Thanks.
*** John

 

[Dirk Goldgar]

This is a general question regarding the autonumber. Is
it possible to customize the autonumber to say:
1) have is start at a different number?
Yes.

2) have it include letters
No.

I ask because it was asked if there could be some
automatic custom numbering done for the records. My
first thought is there is no control over the autonumber.
Is there a way to alter the autonumber?
Thanks.

Although it is possible to set the initial value for an autonumber, you have
very little control over it and it will not, as a rule, behave the way you
want. The common solution is to use your own procedure for generating a
custom number. If you're working in a single-user database, this can be as
simple as looking in the table to find the last number that was used so far,
then adding 1 to it for the next record. If you're working in a multiuser
database, one commonly has a one-record table in which you store the "next
free number". Then your custom-autonumber routine opens a recordset on that
table, locking it in the process, gets the number for use, then increments
the "next number" and saves it back to the table, freeing the table again.