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resetting Autonumber field back to 1 in Access Table
- Thread starter Chunchie1
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Some very important notes, in no particular order.
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Lilliabeth (TechnicalUser) 3 May 06 14:56
I don't get why an autonumber can't have "meaning".
Because if it has meaning, some one will start caring what the values are (like is happening in this thread) and you could spend the rest of your career chasing that rabbit. Want a sequential number that has meaning? Cool. That's sure easy enough to do, so why do it with an autonumber data type where you give up all control?
If you care about the value of the autonumber, you are not using it correctly. It's a handy way to relate tables to each other, and for that, it is it's meaninglessness that is attractive - if it had meaning, some one would decide they want to change it and since it is the field that is common to multiple tables, changing values is pretty scary in a mature database.
See the 7th commandment:
From: Autonumber
thread700-1225179
=======================================================
How do I renumber my table in Access?
thread181-1177580
=======================================================
renumbering autonumber
thread700-828165
=======================================================
JeremyNYC (Programmer) 15 Sep 05 14:47
Keep in mind, though, that there is no reason to reset the autonumber field.
That number should NEVER be relied upon to present any kind of meaningful data.
Autonumbers are guaranteed (more or less) to be unique. They are NOT guaranteed
to be sequential, so the notion of assigning any significance to them is one
that will lead you down a dangerous path. See my write-up here for a bit more
detail:
From: thread705-1122927
=======================================================
=======================================================
Lilliabeth (TechnicalUser) 3 May 06 14:56
I don't get why an autonumber can't have "meaning".
Because if it has meaning, some one will start caring what the values are (like is happening in this thread) and you could spend the rest of your career chasing that rabbit. Want a sequential number that has meaning? Cool. That's sure easy enough to do, so why do it with an autonumber data type where you give up all control?
If you care about the value of the autonumber, you are not using it correctly. It's a handy way to relate tables to each other, and for that, it is it's meaninglessness that is attractive - if it had meaning, some one would decide they want to change it and since it is the field that is common to multiple tables, changing values is pretty scary in a mature database.
See the 7th commandment:
From: Autonumber
thread700-1225179
=======================================================
How do I renumber my table in Access?
thread181-1177580
=======================================================
renumbering autonumber
thread700-828165
=======================================================
JeremyNYC (Programmer) 15 Sep 05 14:47
Keep in mind, though, that there is no reason to reset the autonumber field.
That number should NEVER be relied upon to present any kind of meaningful data.
Autonumbers are guaranteed (more or less) to be unique. They are NOT guaranteed
to be sequential, so the notion of assigning any significance to them is one
that will lead you down a dangerous path. See my write-up here for a bit more
detail:
From: thread705-1122927
=======================================================
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