AutoNumber Info

[anoob]

Hello all, I just had a quick couple questions about AutoNumber fields...




1. In order to us the Primary Key AutoNumber field "Client ID" as a Foreign Key in another field - does the FK have to be set to the type "number"?


2. Does the FK name/title have to be the same, in this example "Client ID", or could they hypothetically be different? FK "Related ID From Clients"


3. If you format the data in the PK AutoNumber field as such:

"Client-0001", "Client-0002" etc.

Is it misleading because under the formatting the number in the table is just "1", "2", and so on? Would this screw up a search for one of the formatted IDs?


4. Is it bad practice to name tables or other rows or whatever with spaces in the name? Should "My Row" be "MyRow" or "My_Row"?

Many thanks - I'm new to this so I appreciate the guided help. I've read so many random Google searches the past week my brain is just toast...

[SteveH2508]

Hello all, I just had a quick couple questions about AutoNumber fields...


1. In order to us the Primary Key AutoNumber field "Client ID" as a Foreign Key in another field - does the FK have to be set to the type "number"?
Yes - it must be Long integer

2. Does the FK name/title have to be the same, in this example "Client ID", or could they hypothetically be different? FK "Related ID From Clients"
No

3. If you format the data in the PK AutoNumber field as such:

"Client-0001", "Client-0002" etc.

Is it misleading because under the formatting the number in the table is just "1", "2", and so on? Would this screw up a search for one of the formatted IDs?
Yes it is misleading - not sure about the search question

4. Is it bad practice to name tables or other rows or whatever with spaces in the name? Should "My Row" be "MyRow" or "My_Row"?
Yes - it will cause tears before bedtime at some stage (as will odd characters like # etc.)
Many thanks - I'm new to this so I appreciate the guided help. I've read so many random Google searches the past week my brain is just toast...

Just my thoughts - others mileage may vary.

[anoob]

Great response - thank you.

Is there a way then to set the format of the AutoNumber at the actual level where it is stored? So instead of it storing 1 through whatever, it would store "000001", "000002" etc?

[SteveF]

Great response - thank you.

Is there a way then to set the format of the AutoNumber at the actual level where it is stored? So instead of it storing 1 through whatever, it would store "000001", "000002" etc?

To make the answer short: no. If you must have leading zeroes for display in a form or report, use a query as the form/report's data source and use the Format Function within the query to add the zeroes.

Steve