Question

Auto increment letters with numbers or just letters

Asked by: stephenleroux

Is it possible to have an autonumber with a letter instead or in any of the following sequences

A, B, C etc

2.1R, 3.1R, 4.1R etc

1A 2A 3A etc

Thanks in advance

Stephen


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Asked On
2004-06-11 at 08:40:32ID21022403
Tags

increment

,

letters

Topic

MS SQL Server

Participating Experts
5
Points
500
Comments
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Answers

 

by: svidPosted on 2004-06-11 at 08:50:07ID: 11289794

Autonumber (or identity) is a numeric data type. I don't think you can have SQL Server automatically do this for you.

One option is to get the previous value and insert with the next value.

 

by: HilairePosted on 2004-06-11 at 08:52:51ID: 11289822

Not really AFAIK

But you can
- have a normal identity field
- have a computed column that generates the custom ID

try the following code

create table #dummy_table ( id int identity, char_seq as cast(char(64 + id % 27) as char(1)), mix_seq as cast(id as varchar(10)) + '.1R', anotherfield  varchar(100))
insert #dummy_table (anotherfield) values ('row 1')
insert #dummy_table (anotherfield) values ('row 2')
insert #dummy_table (anotherfield) values ('row 3')
insert #dummy_table (anotherfield) values ('row 4')
insert #dummy_table (anotherfield) values ('row 5')
select * from #dummy_table
drop table #dummy_table

HTH

Hilaire

 

by: OMC2000Posted on 2004-06-11 at 08:57:35ID: 11289874

You could make are on insert trigger that user either identity column or another table that has only row, only column that holds current value of sequence.
And when new row is inserted you could generate any desired string representation of that identity using T-SQL.
for insance
set @string_autonumber_var = convert(varchar,@identity_column) + '.1R';

 

by: stephenlerouxPosted on 2004-06-11 at 09:02:38ID: 11289928

How can I automate this one hilaire?

 

by: svidPosted on 2004-06-11 at 09:14:21ID: 11290040

Nice solution Hilaire!

stephenleroux : These being computed columns, can be used in your select statements. You will just have to add the columns to your table and they will be available automatically in the select/where/order by clauses.

However one other issue could be how you want ids > 26 to be handled.

 

by: HilairePosted on 2004-06-11 at 09:16:12ID: 11290053

1) add an identity field to your table

alter table yourtable add t_id int identity

2) create a computed column
(a computed column is calculated automatically, you have nohting more to do ...)

alter table yourtable add  char_seq as cast(char(64 + t_id % 27) as char(1))

or

alter table yourtable add mix_seq as cast(t_id as varchar(10)) + '.1R'

Of course you can do the same in Enterprise Manager
-Open the table in design mode
-Create the identity field
-Create the computed column (you just have to type a valid formula in the "formula" field, you don't have to care of datatype)
eg "cast(char(64 + t_id % 27) as char(1))" is a valid formula (no equal sign required, no quotes)

HTH

Hilaire

 

by: arbertPosted on 2004-06-11 at 10:01:56ID: 11290443

You can even create an index on the computed column--this will make SQL "persist" the data and will be faster if you search on it later--you can even make a PK on it if you wish...

 

by: stephenlerouxPosted on 2004-06-11 at 10:17:14ID: 11290586

can you give me an example arbert?

 

by: arbertPosted on 2004-06-11 at 11:22:06ID: 11291227

Example of what exactly?  A computed column works basically like any other column:

create index ndxName on yourtable(computedcolumnname)

 

by: TheLearnedOnePosted on 2004-07-27 at 11:03:05ID: 11649154

Abandoned question?

Bob

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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