A4GLIdentity

[johnCronin]

Can anyone tell me the significance of the A4GLIdentity field found in many of the Macola tables. When inserting new rows into a table with this column, how would I know the next number without making SQL read the entire table.

 

[dgillz]

John,

This is a SQL thing. (I am sure someone here can give you a more technical answer than that!).

However when appending records to a table via a MS Access append query, for example, you never need to set the value of this field. SQL Server does this automatically.

If you are in a Pervasive environment, you will never even see this field. Let me know if you have any questions.

Software Sales, Training, Implementation and Support for Exact Macola, eSynergy, and Crystal Reports

http://www.trianglepartners.com

 

[johnCronin]

Thanks you are absolutely correct. The column exists in every table when using SQL server. The column has an IDENTITY property. SQL Server maintains the contents of the field. It is used to uniquely identify every row in a table. I have no idea why Macola uses it. For example using a small table:

CREATE TABLE [dbo].[SYSTATES_SQL] (
[id] [char] (4) COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS NOT NULL ,
[desc_1] [char] (30) COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS NULL ,
[intrastat_fg] [char] (1) COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS NULL ,
[intrastat_id] [char] (4) COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS NULL ,
[filler_0001] [char] (30) COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS NULL ,
[A4GLIdentity] [numeric](9, 0) IDENTITY (1, 1) NOT NULL
) ON [PRIMARY]

 

[kscheeler]

They're using it because they don't use keys on any of their progression tables. They use clustered indexes which have to be unique but don't actually set any keys on the tables. The A4GLIdentity field is a way of creating an absolute unique record.

Kevin Scheeler

 

[abaldwin]

kscheeler is correct. The field name though is a little confusting. Macola should have named it IDField or something without GLIdentity in it. Most people tend to think it is some kind of GL entry id. It is simply a unique field.

Can come in handy sometimes if you are looking at some records that could be similar. Wish the field was available on screensets such as OEORDLIN items.

I think you know where I am going with that one dont you dgillz????

Andy

Andy Baldwin