In access in the autonumber feature, can I have it use F##1, F##2

[Guest]

I want to use autonumbering to identify records and create records starting
with like F08-001 and F08-002, etc.

 

[tina]

the rule of thumb is: don't use Autonumber to assign values that will have
meaning to the user. an Autonumber is meant to uniquely identify each record
in a table *to the database engine*, not to any person.

to assign a meaningful, consecutively numbered value to each new record in a
table, you can write code, or a macro, and run it from the data entry form's
BeforeInsert event.

hth

 

[Guest]

Tina,

Thank you for your response! What I am trying to do is create records for
issues that people call me on. We use F08-001, F08002, and so on.

 

[Pat Hartman \(MVP\)]

What does F08 mean? Do you care if the numbers are not sequential? It is
poor practice to string together different attributes in the same field.
You can add a field to categorize your issues that doesn't need to be part
of the primary key of the record. That will allow you to continue to use
autonumbers. You can print out the prefix and the autonumber so they look
like a string -

YourPrefix & Format(YourAutonumber,"000")

Use as many zeros in the format() function as you want digits returned.
Three digits is a very small number. If your autonumber ends up exceeding
three significant digits, it will be truncated to three by the format()
function which will cause confusion. However if "F" means something and
"08" means something, they should actually be two fields rather than one.