Auto-Increment Tip
by Tom Cone Jr.

The auto-increment field rule will not automatically extend character string values when needed. The length of the initial string seems to establish a template that will not be increased even when needed.

If you have a 5 character wide field, and begin with the three digit string "101", when Alpha Five gets to "999" the next number it supplies will be "000", not "1000". The fourth digit needed to display the next number is not supplied. This only affects fields that are of character type in cases where you do not include the entire field in your initial value. It occurs in vers. 4.03 and 4.5. It does not happen with fields that are of numeric type. [Editor's note: Since you don't normally perform math with auto-increment fields, most auto-increment fields should be defined as Character type even if they contain only numerals. This is a 'generally accepted practice' in the database industry.]

So, the tip is this: If you have a 5 character wide field and want to use auto-increment to number successive entries in your table, don''t start the initial numbering with a three or four digit string. Use all five digits: Instead of beginning with "101", use "00101".