autonumber creates weird entry

[vdotmatrix]

I am running microsoft access 2000. I hae a membership database for our climbing club. the version i run on my computer had a thing occur with the autonumbering right at 90 members. after 90 the next auto number is 1134199768. I have no idea what has occurred. this is the autonumbering for the member ID number. i think it is also the key id....the name of this table also says now (replicated).

what are your thoughts onthis?

vdotmatrix@gmail.com
vincent

 

[Remou]

This seems to me to be a perfectly normal autonumber for a replicated database.

 

[vdotmatrix]

Thank you very much for your reply.

Can you tell me why or what has happened after #90 that i get this "alien" autonumber and how or what does it mean to have been replicated? Can I unreplicate this table? The number seems so out of place.

Also , there is a yellow circle with arrows in it after the members table and the member type.

Is this database corrupted? Can I toggle this condition?

BAckground: i created this database for a climbing club membership DB. I tried to create a page that the membership could access and update online but my web host for my personal websitedidn't support Access features so a club member wrote some ASP and now a version my database lives online independent of the original DB on my computer. When I tried to add data a month or so ago I started getting these wild member ID numbers; looks very much out of place.

Can I revert and get on with my life?

http://www.potomacMountainClub.org

Vincent

 

[Remou]

Ok, this is just a guess, but I would say that the member that helped you with the ASP replicated the database so that any changes you made could be updated to the online version without too much trouble. There are other ways of going about this, so you will need to contact this member and explain that you would rather work off a master database and where is the backup? When a database is replicated, Access prompts you to create a backup before you continue, you need the backup because it is very tedious indeed to unwind the changes that are made when a database is replicated. Especially when you have the replica, not the master copy. The yellow circle is part of the whole replication thingy.
That being said, you should never place any reliance on autonumbers being anything but unique. The can jump all over the place and often have gaps. If you want a sequential number for your members, you need to look at some other way of doing this. You will find more about ideas for member numbers is these fora.
Do not despair, there is life after replication.

 

[vdotmatrix]

Okay , i think i have an understanding of what this thing is all about, but another disturbing facet is one of them auto generated numbers is negative so it now appears at the beggining of the table. I guess it doesn't matter if I sort on the last name.

 

[Remou]

I am afraid that is the way it works. You cannot even depend on an autonumber being positive. It can be disconcerting at first, just remember that autonumbers mean absolutely nothing, they are not for your users, they are just there to be unique.

 

[vdotmatrix]

well i have lost sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much sleep over this trying to fix something that really wasn't even broken...I have to thank you againand again for sheding light on this...I bug our ASP guy, Pete at all hours for all kinds of issues with the data base and he is awesome...Thanks again

Vincent