[AccessD] AutoNumber To Start From 900120

DWUTKA at marlow.com DWUTKA at marlow.com
Thu May 6 10:30:15 CDT 2004


There are exceptions.  I use the AutoNumber field for our IS Request Ticket
Numbers.  Started it at 1000. (Just so we didn't have ticket 1, 2, etc.).
There is no 'real' importance to the ticket number, other then to refer to
an exact ticket.  Most of the time, we are saying 'That ticket that so and
so put in.....'.  But if I email Mark about a particular request, I may say
Request #xyzm .  Where could a problem develop with that?  They don't have
to be entirely sequential, they have no other meaning then being the
identifier for the requests they represent, which is the same purpose they
have within the database itself.

I have a good reason for changing a starting AutoNumber, however.  Just
built our online Shopping Cart.  It interacts with AuthorizedNet, for credit
card purchases.  AuthorizedNet requires a number that cannot be repeated
from one cart to the next.  So, i use the CartID which represents each
shopping cart.  After testing, I cleaned up the live database, which removed
the test carts, and compacted the database.  That reset the Autonumber, so I
had to bump it back up, into a range which hadn't been used yet, otherwise
AuthorizedNet would have refused the transactions.

Drew

-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com]On Behalf Of Heenan,
Lambert
Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2004 8:42 AM
To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'
Subject: RE: [AccessD] AutoNumber To Start From 900120


Quite a few replies to this question, but I'm surprised that nobody has
mentioned that if some specific value of an AutoNumber field is important
then the AutoNumber field is not being used properly (this is an old hobby
horse of mine).

An AutoNumber field is supposed to uniquely identify a specific row in a
table. That's all. The user's need not ever see or know the value of such an
AutoNumber field, it's used by the database to link related tables together.
If the value of an AutoNumber field is important to a user then it is being
given some other meaning, and that's only going to cause problems down the
line. In effect you are storing two pieces of information in one field, and
that's contrary to the normalization principals we should all at least be
aware of.

Even Microsoft seem to have woken up to this as A2K+ no longer reset
AutoNumber's on compacting (thanks for testing that John).

Just my 2 cents.

Lambert

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Jim Hewson [SMTP:JHewson at karta.com]
> Sent:	Thursday, May 06, 2004 9:22 AM
> To:	Access Developers discussion and problem solving
> Subject:	RE: [AccessD] Autonumber To Start From 900120
> 
> 
> Issue?  I thought that was feature.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
> [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com]On Behalf Of John W. Colby
> Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2004 8:23 AM
> To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
> Subject: RE: [AccessD] Autonumber To Start From 900120
> 
> 
> Uhh... yep.  At least in A2K and earlier.  AXP doesn't seem to do that.
> In
> fact I just tested in A2K SR1 and it isn't resetting the autonumber
> either,
> so a service pack may have fixed that.  But it definitely used to be an
> issue so be careful.
> 
> John W. Colby
> www.ColbyConsulting.com
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
> [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com]On Behalf Of Jim DeMarco
> Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2004 8:47 AM
> To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
> Subject: RE: [AccessD] Autonumber To Start From 900120
> 
> 
> Yes this will work.  One caveat though: do not compact the db until you've
> got the seed number you want inserted.  Compacting will reset the
> autonumber.
> 
> Jim DeMarco
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: John W. Colby [mailto:jwcolby at colbyconsulting.com]
> Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2004 8:45 AM
> To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
> Subject: RE: [AccessD] Autonumber To Start From 900120
> 
> 
> One way that works with all versions of Access (AFAIK) is to append in a
> dummy record specifying a value one less than the number you want.  Then
> go
> in and delete that record.  The next record will pick up with the next
> value
> (assuming an incrementing autonumber)
> 
> John W. Colby
> www.ColbyConsulting.com
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
> [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com]On Behalf Of
> paul.hartland at fsmail.net
> Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2004 8:25 AM
> To: accessd
> Subject: [AccessD] Autonumber To Start From 900120
> 
> 
> To all,
> Is there a way of telling the Autonumber where to start from in a Database
> ?
> Thanks in advance.
> Paul
> 
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