Re: Character String help

if you can live with all numbers, just set up a control file or data
area
with the next number to use.  then chain to your parts file to make sure
it's not being used.
same thing could probably be done with alpha but you would have to build
some kind of table of letters to know which letter(character) is the 
next.  

ie  for 'ABC'  the next "number" would be 'ABD'.  just take the C off 
the end, use it to get the element number of the table, then use the
character in the next element ('D' in this case).  if you come to the 
end of the table, use the first element for the last character and then
use the same method to change the character before it.  so 'XYZ' would
become 'XZA'.  (assuming the lookup table starts with 'A' and ends with
'Y', 'Z'

i've never actually done this but it sounds like it should work.
hope it helps.


> 
> I have a character field used to identify our parts.  The majority of
> these values are numeric in value.  I'm wondering how we can auto-assign
> the "next number" the user should use when adding a new part.
> 
> Thanks for any tips!
> --------------------------------------------------------
> Kevin Baltus - Programmer/Analyst
> Gross-Given Mfg/AP International
> http://www.automaticproducts.com
>
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