Automatic renumbering

[C Peterson]

Our small newspaper needs to create a database of subscribers from which we can print labels in what the post office calls "Walk Sort" order, the order in which the mail carrier hand delivers the mail on his route. The number associated with a particular subscriber is not fixed because if another subscriber is added on that mail carriers route, it may fall between two existing entries. So the Walk Sort field needs to automatically renumber up or down when an entry is added or deleted. I will use that field to sort chronologically and print form feed labels.
I've figured out a way to do this in Excel, but I think Access might be a better program to use for this database. My question is, can Access automatically renumber a Walk Sort field if I add or remove entries? If so, how do I set it up to do that?
P.S. I haven't used Access for quite some time, and I wasn't very proficient with it then.

 

[WayneRyan]

C,

I'd store the value as a floating point number. For the moment; forget what it looks like.
When you add a new entry, assign it the value that is midway between its two "neighbors".
Then you'll have a true sort order without having to renumber your table.

For forms/reports, you can generate the number you want to see with a new unbound field;
Default = 1; Running Sum = Yes

hth,
Wayne