serial numbers

[mdpres]

I hope someone can give me an answer to a problem I am having.

What I am trying to achieve is a serial number script.

I have 4 fields (all global Numbers) 1 field is for leading zeros 1 field is a start number

1 field is a previous number and 1 field is a new number.

I run the serial numbers from a script and they work fine on one computer but when I

network the file the serial number will not update on the server but it will update on the

computer it is being used on WHY?

[LiveOak]

You are discovering what global field are all about. Globals can only be used in the manner you suggest in a single user file. In a multi-user file opened by a guest, globals take on the last value stored when the file was single user and are discarded when the guest closes the file. When you think about this in a multi user environment, it makes sense that globals must be made to work this way. Say you used a global for a loop counter, if two users were running the same loop, things would get VERY confused!

To do what you want, you will need to create another file with a single record and store the values as fields in this one record. You must also prevent a couple of things from happening. If a user clicks into this record but does not release it, no other user can use the record until it is released. If user one grabs a value and adds one, user two grabs a value and adds one, user one writes the value back, then user two writes the value back, the value will then be incorrect (+1 not +2). You must script so that this sort of thing doesn't happen in a multi-user environment.

In a multi-user environment, it is important to understand how FM works to avoid problems.

-bd

[This message has been edited by LiveOak (edited January 17, 2001).]

[mdpres]

quote:

---

Originally posted by MDPRES:

I hope someone can give me an answer to a problem I am having.

What I am trying to achieve is a serial number script.

I have 4 fields (all global Numbers) 1 field is for leading zeros 1 field is a start number

1 field is a previous number and 1 field is a new number.

I run the serial numbers from a script and they work fine on one computer but when I

network the file the serial number will not update on the server but it will update on the

computer it is being used on WHY?

---

bd

I thought that the global was an issue

thanks, and I did do it the other way

but ran into the problem of another user

being in that record so thanks for letting me know i wasnt going crazy

dean