Automatically Naming New Records accoridng to set criteria

[Rob Marr]

Hi,

My database holds information on various patients. A copy of it will be issued to a number of different organisations to record patient information before returning an anonymised version of the data to a central point.

To keep track of this data locally and centrally I need each new record to autocomplete with a new ID. The field is called PT_ID and the table it sits in is tblPatientInformation. This field is also the field that links several tables.

I want to set the field up with the following format: ABC1, ABC2, ABC3 and so on. The letters will change according to the service.

Can anyone help please?

Thank you,

Rob

 

[Atomic Shrimp]

1. Yes, it's possible, but you will need to implement some VBA code to do it - this sort of question comes up on the board almost daily - try a search on 'custom autonumber'

2. DON'T use a meaningful ID like this to relate to records in other tables - add an ordinary autonumber ID to the main table (may be completely hidden from the user) and use this to link to your other tables.
If you use a meaningful field as a key, it's highly likely to cause heartache later when the meaning or structure of the field has to undergo changes.