Re: The case of outnumbered numerator

Hello Guys

Woa, I see my inquiry spawned many responses and provoked some debates,
Looks like it touched a sore spot - which it surly is for me

So first thank you all , (Mark, Paul ,Jon ,Roger ,John ,Sam ) and others
I surly have missed .

Some clarifications are due I guess so see following my answers to Mark's
detailed
inquiries




1. what problem(s) are you trying to solve?

problem of the numerator exceeding 999999 (due in 2 years I
estimate).

2. why is this "number" stored as a "character" field?

That was (I guess) the method deemed best 25 years ago.
3. why not simply convert that field to "packed" and that would give
you 11 digits?
Because this will entail changing quite a few (hundreds)
PGMs/Screens/Reports

4. where is this current "next number" value maintained and stored,
in a database table,
or in a data area, or some other place?
When a new item is to be inserted the program(s) looks for the
last item in
the file and increment it by 1.
5. how and where is this field used?
This field is a unique identifier of an item (Musical/Literary
work).
a good analog is sku.
6. how and where and when is this value updated?
This field is never updated.

Answering Jon suggesting of using Character first numerator (A00001, A00002
etc.)
Yes, this solves the overflow programs but I would like new inserted items
to have
bigger IDs so one could easily tell which item is older then the other .
(I know this is just a mental limitation of mine but still it would be nice
..)

And again, THANK YOU all guys