Serial Numbers based on Month & Yr

[jf131]

I have a customer db that has a serial number which is based on the month & yr i.e. Jan 06 = 2601xxx. Right now I have to go in and change the serial number at the start of each month....any ideas on how to automate this would be appreaciated!

[Tim W]

Hi & welcome to the forum.

Serial key fields should be simply a straight number, however what you want could be calculated as a second field that the user accesses instead of the real serial.

root number does not reset does it? a true serial should not.

SerialField = autoenter serial

CalcField = GetAsText(SerialField)&GetAsText(Month(Get(CurrentDate)))& GetAsText(Right(Year(Get(CurrentDate)),2)

CalcField result should be text

SerialField should be number

That should get your month and year entered into your field dynamically.

HTH,

Tim

[Ender]

Well, it's best to avoid these types of serial numbers altogether. It's much easier to deal with and less problematic if the relational keys have no real-world significance.

If it's important to know when a customer was added, why not simply use a Creation Date field?

[Conner]

Ender is right.

If you still want to see the date combined with the serial number, simply create a calculation field with the formula: Serial & Creation Date

[jf131]

Thanks for the info, the serial# actually is our job#. The first 2 digits represent the year the order was placed, the next 2 digits represent the month and the last 3 digits represent the number of orders received in that month 1,2,3... up to 999. The serial# has no bearing on which customer placed the order.