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Autoincrement--what happens?

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    Autoincrement--what happens?

    When Autoincrement is set up as a field rule and a new record is opened, what happens as far as exclusive record locking? Is a new record created at that point? Is it possible for two clients hitting 'new' at the same time and BOTH get the same Autoincrement number. I did a little reading in the forum about this but I'm still not sure.

    I'm not positive but I think this has happened in a couple of cases. But in the end only ONE record was created and one client got the record but the other didn't. Is that even possible?

    #2
    Re: Autoincrement--what happens?

    In a very large environment it is possible.

    I think the consensus is that the autoincrement problems can be avoided by getting the number and saving immediately. Some even use another table to autolookup the next number instead of trusting the basic system.

    I have never had a problem with this, but on entering a new record, focus is set to that ai field and is immediately save before any other data is entered. I do not know if this would be enough if I had 300 users at a time.
    Dave Mason
    [email protected]
    Skype is dave.mason46

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Autoincrement--what happens?

      We have a VERY large 'system' but not that many users. But with A5V11 I have noticed some odd delays and I can only attribute this to the network itself which is very busy. If I open a new autoincremented record it might take some time to propagate and I'm just thinking that if that happens when two are entering there could be a problem.

      Thanks very much for you cogent observation. Just got me thinking about how to explain the couple of reports I've received. This in addition to indexing issues that I never had with earlier versions. I'm in pursuit. Thanks.

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Autoincrement--what happens?

        Some of the earlier versions were rather easy on the indexes. It seems v10 and above are a little tighter on these. a lot of indexes I see in the apps I have had to get involved with of late are a mystery as to how they ever worked. I am sure they took a lot of time for the system to sort out. I almost never have a problem with indexes due to keeping them simple and straight forward. Use queries instead for hard stuff.

        One of the things I started back in v5 was to make all id/ai fields in numeric. Seems to work better for me and translates to sql better down the line. My largest app that is placed in a bunch of stores has about 40 users in a store at most.

        I am repaiting an app right now that has 3 such indexes, fields that are over 15 characters long and table names also over 15 characters long. add that to spaces in the file names and it is a recipe for disaster. some same problems in naming conventions(or lack there of for reports, forms and etc. add also that they have 5 memo fields attached to their main data table, all adding data to the same ftp file(oh-boy). It is taking a lot of my time up. But, they will have a solid app when I am done.

        I got it with the ftp at almost 2 gig and the last developer placed a function in a field rule that is dependent on another website remaining the same, which it did not. Can you imagine (as a user) trying to go from one form to another and having to wait a full five minutes to get there?
        Dave Mason
        [email protected]
        Skype is dave.mason46

        Comment


          #5
          Re: Autoincrement--what happens?

          Originally posted by Dennis Mathias View Post
          When Autoincrement is set up as a field rule and a new record is opened, what happens as far as exclusive record locking?
          According to the online help the auto increment field isn't finalized until the record is committed, it could be auto incremented further if there is a conflict.

          Read more here: http://wiki.alphasoftware.com/How+Au...nt+Fields+Work

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Autoincrement--what happens?

            Originally posted by Dennis Mathias View Post
            When Autoincrement is set up as a field rule and a new record is opened, what happens as far as exclusive record locking? Is a new record created at that point? Is it possible for two clients hitting 'new' at the same time and BOTH get the same Autoincrement number. I did a little reading in the forum about this but I'm still not sure.
            According to the Alphapedia, the auto-increment number isn't final until the record is committed. If two or more records attempt to commit a value equal or lower than an existing value, that value will be auto-incremented until it is higher than the previous highest value in the table.

            Comment


              #7
              Re: Autoincrement--what happens?

              Jacobe,

              solution up front(this was in #2).
              but on entering a new record, focus is set to that ai field and is immediately save before any other data is entered
              Now, I also have a solution that deletes that record at a later time if the fields are not used. That may be different for each app.
              Dave Mason
              [email protected]
              Skype is dave.mason46

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Autoincrement--what happens?

                Originally posted by DaveM View Post
                but on entering a new record, focus is set to that ai field and is immediately save before any other data is entered
                I guess it depends upon how many new records are being created per however often. If it's large enough to matter you could not guarantee you got there first unless you locked the table - and then you'd take a performance hit.

                If the original poster is just concerned about auto-increment values being unique, I don't think he has to worry. But if his application could not tolerate the number changing upon commit he'd have to use some other method.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: Autoincrement--what happens?

                  My clients never see the id filed that is autoincremented at all. They only see the information that they need to. I do not use the ai filed for record selection or an invoice number field and that takes a big load off for me and the user.
                  Dave Mason
                  [email protected]
                  Skype is dave.mason46

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: Autoincrement--what happens?

                    Dennis, not clear whether you found the help file material useful. Here's the link.

                    Comment

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