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ID's

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    #1

    ID's

    Hi Experts, I've read the help files and watched the videos, but I am still puzzled over ID's. AlphaSports seems to use character type ID's in all the tables, although the ID values are actually numerics. I have been using numeric field types, but am concerned I may be missing something, that will come back to haunt me later when the system is operational (just in build at present) Is there any particular advantage/disadvantage between numeric and character based ID's or indexes. The main files are clients and agreements, in a one to many relationship.

    The client may be number 1005 and might have 3 agreements, 01, 02 and 03 and I combine the two to give reference numbers of 1005.01 1005.02 and 1005.03 ..... do you think numeric or character would be better for the client ID agreement ID and the refernce ID's??

    Many thanks

    Gerry
    Tags: None
    #2
    Re: ID's

    In general, Alpha (read "dbf" file format) seems to prefer character values for autoincrement (i.e. "ID") fields. But, many experienced developers swear by numeric field types and report no problems. Do a search on "autoincrement" and you should find a lot of discussion on this subject

    Originally posted by gezzer1520 View Post
    The client may be number 1005 and might have 3 agreements, 01, 02 and 03 and I combine the two to give reference numbers of 1005.01 1005.02 and 1005.03 ..... do you think numeric or character would be better for the client ID agreement ID and the refernce ID's??
    In general, (autoincrement perhaps being an exception), numeric fields should be reserved for fields that require, or will be used in, mathematical operations. For your purpose, you might consider using character value identifiers. One other point, if each client has one or more "agreements", that suggests a 1:M set, with the Client_ID as the linking value.
    Peter
    AlphaBase Solutions, LLC

     [email protected]
    https://www.alphabasesolutions.com

    Comment

      #3
      Re: ID's

      Thanks Peter. I do have the set formatted as you suggest. I had already tried it using numeric and character values, and both seemed to work OK which is why I was unsure, but I will go with character as you suggest. I do use the Client_ID as the linking value. Thanks again for your help, Gerry

      Comment

        #4
        Re: ID's

        There are two reasons I still prefer character ID fields:

        - I've run into too many situations where the customer has decided there's a need for some additional identifier. For example, add an "R" to indicate a retail customer and "W" to indicate a wholesale customer. In reality, there are generally better ways to do this but I have run into situations where something like this made sense.

        - It can get rather difficult for a user to work with ID numbers if they are all numeric. For example, the Master Order number is 111032, the work order is 167345, the client number is 100978, the agent number is 102592. This can become confusing. It starts being a little easier to keep track of if the client number starts with a "C" (C0978), and the agent number starts with an "A" (A2592), etc.

        Another advantage of using letter prefixes is that you can get more ID numbers for the same number of characters. In fact, it will be 2.6 times as many if you just use a one letter prefix. (26 letters vs. 10 digits) In the example above, I wouldn't want to get agent numbers that go past "B9999" because then they would look like a client number but I could have used a 6 character string for agents in order to make it different than clients. This isn't something I would normally do or even recommend but it is something to keep in the back of your mind.

        Comment

          #5
          Re: ID's

          Gerry,

          Before you rule out numeric ID's you should peruse this thread:

          http://msgboard.alphasoftware.com/al...ad.php?t=77116

          I have used both character and numeric ID's in different apps for more than a decade and as near as I can remember (!) have never had a problem when I used numeric. And as the above thread indicates, as we move more into the SQL world there may be good reason to stay away from character ID's.

          Raymond Lyons

          Comment

            #6
            Re: ID's

            Thanks for mentioning that, Ray! I'd forgotten all about the SQL issue.

            Comment

              #7
              Re: ID's

              Hi Guys, Thanks for the info - I hadn't realised it was such a can of worms. I've read the thread, and I'm probably going to go for character, for the moment. Thanks again, Gerry

              Comment

                #8
                Re: ID's

                Depending on your exact situation/implementation there may be another reason to use character ID fields when using DBF's. Unless I am reading it incorrectly....in some cases to fully use Lightning Query Optimization you will need a character field to optimize your queries.

                http://support.alphasoftware.com/alp...timization.htm


                FWIW...I use DBF's and I use character ID fields. Although the ID's I typically use in those fields are numerals(stored as characters).

                - I've run into too many situations where the customer has decided there's a need for some additional identifier. For example, add an "R" to indicate a retail customer and "W" to indicate a wholesale customer. In reality, there are generally better ways to do this but I have run into situations where something like this made sense.
                I have run into this as well.

                Comment

                  #9
                  Re: ID's

                  And to further muddy the waters, if you plan on going to the WAS at some point, you might be better off with character values as "browsers" don't like numeric values.
                  Peter
                  AlphaBase Solutions, LLC

                   [email protected]
                  https://www.alphabasesolutions.com

                  Comment

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