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Auto Increment Behaviour

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    Auto Increment Behaviour

    Hi,

    I have reported this as a bug but not sure if this is deliberate. Could others please check this out?

    In V4.5 the auto increment behaviour moved the value up one for each new record and if any recent records were deleted the value skipped their unique numbers (leaving a gap) so the same unique value would never be re-used unless the table was packed. This is how I prefer.

    In V8 and V9 enter a few new records then delete them and the value starts again prior to the value before deletion even though no pack had been run.

    For example the user could enter a few records today and say post or update data etc in other linked tables based on the unique value but then open the table say tomorrow and if any recent records had been deleted and new records added the user would be passing values from different records to other linked tables but using the same unique number of a different record created yesterday.

    I know we can write our own incrementing numbers and delete records from within a set but I have pre-built built apps based on the behaviour of V4.5 and previous. I much prefer the old behaviour.

    Michael
    www.instantnurserymanager.co.uk

    #2
    Re: Auto Increment Behaviour

    Michal, the behavior of the autoincrement field rule changed in 2002 when vers 5 of Alpha Five was released. There have been no changes to this since so far as I know. Instead of using the last physical record in the table to get the "seed" to be incremented, the field rule uses the "highest" field value, determined by index sorting.

    The problem you fear stems from the failure to delete linked child table records when the parent table record is deleted. In the scenario you describe children are "orphaned" when their parent is deleted. Orphan records should be deleted first, before deleting the parent.

    Given the length of time that's passed I think it's unlikely that "old behavior" will be restored. Would break too many apps that have been built with A5v5, A5v6, A5v7, A5v8 and A5v9.

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Auto Increment Behaviour

      Tom,

      Thanks, according to your comments, this is obviously not a bug but intentional for some reason.

      I much prefer the old behaviour since it guaranteed a unique value. I often pass values from one table to another based on a key value of tables from outside of a set.

      Michael

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Auto Increment Behaviour

        Michael, I see what you mean. One of the advantages to the change is that you get the same "next" number whether the table has been packed or not. This was not true with vers 4.5 and earlier iterations. In your app you are able to keep things straight only by assuring that the table is never packed. I suspect that many more users pack than never pack. -- tom

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