i have a very basic problem that i'm sure someone can fuguer out immeditaely....i don't have custom formatting option...but i want to generate 'workorder' numbers that corespond to the record number BUT i want the number to be 00001, 00002, 00003 etc....how do i tell filemaker to treat the record number as a 5 digit number?

thank yo so much i know this is too easy!

...how do i tell filemaker to treat the record number as a 5 digit number?

Hello anniee,

If the "record number" you're referring to is generated as an auto-enter serial number, you will be able to specify leading zeros simply by entering them into the "next value" field on the Auto-entry panel of the Options dialog for the serial number field.

Alternatively, If you already have the numbers (but they're not 5-digit) or you want to generate the numbers in some other way (eg using the Get(RecordID) function), you can add the leading zeros with a formula along the lines of:

Right("00000" & Get(RecordID); 5)

BTW, the Get(RecordNumber) function, is probably not a good choice for this purpose, as the numbers change when records are sorted or deleted etc.

thanks so much!..is there a way to add text to the front of auto generate serial # or put auto generate in the 'specify calculation'?

so it would look like ANN07-00001, ANN07-00002

thanks so much!..is there a way to add text to the front of auto generate serial # or put auto generate in the 'specify calculation'?

so it would look like ANN07-00001, ANN07-00002

Yes. Auto-enter serials can include leading text characters. Just enter them into the "next value" field in the Options dialog and FileMaker will use them when generating serial values, in the way you've described. :wink2: