Filemaker server 8 serial number

I've been mid level guy. However this time I stumbled on something and it seems can't go forward. ADVAC is a type of product. Serial number starts for new month at , still OK and sequential number is done by adding 1. My problem is that I don't know how to do a test if for SN it is next number or it should be if the month is new. The best thing in this case in my humble opinion is to script the serial number creation, as opposed to auto-enter calculation. You have more control over what gets set and how.

So, the script can check whether today is the first day of a month and if it is, start serial numbering from scratch. Any example for the script for this. I'm not good with scripting. I'll create a demo file and post it on my blog this weekend. I know this has come up before, and I'm sure it'll resurface again. Follow agir on twitter to be notified or check blog. Attached is a sample file that illustrates a way to create complex, month based serials.

It requires no scripting, just a relationship. This technique is useful for creating a few thousand serials in any given month, after that, it may be to slow. Note: This technique is not failsafe if used in a multiuser environment. See Michael's response and sample file. Run the atached demo to see why this is not a good idea.

And it's worth noting that scripted allocation of serials can suffer from similar issues unless the script is built around a strategy for conflict management. It was not clear in your original post if you are using this serial number as a key field. If so, might you want to consider keeping it an internal serial number for the purposes of your company protocol whichever method for generating it you choose but having a truly unique serial number as a key field, e.

This way you can insure that your relationships are solid while maintaining the company serial number for identification purposes. Remember the best practice that true key fields should not have "meaning" that you will use to parse later because the basis for that meaning can, and probably will, change over time.

Thank you Michael, and all of you trying to help me with this. However multiple user failure may be not that bad because I limit new record creation to one user at the time since the software exists on the floor computer and only one person at the time can create a new record.

The file is on the server and I with admin privs can have access as a second user, so there is no risk. Anybody else from the company I'm pushing FM at work would have read-only access from their logins. Still hoping for that magic script from someone, because this or rather my own lack of FM knowledge just simply drives me crazy. See if something like the attached could work for you.

It runs a script on startup to check if the month has changed since the last time the file was opened. If so, it resets the serial back to Note that this assumes you are not running continuously during the night - otherwise you will need to find another way to run the script, e. Here's a demo file which shows a way of detecting when the next month comes along. No scripts are involved; rather it uses a relationship which looks back to see when the first of a new family of Month-Year records begin, and uses that record in conjunction with the new record to calculate the next "categorized" serial value.

Rather than using a count-based method, it relies on a normal serial number. CategorySerial v3. CategorySerial v3f. Thanks for pointing that out Michael. You'd be good as a proof reader I've made a change and I now believe all is well. That is, there's no longer a reliance on the first record of a family, so it can be deleted.

CategorySerial v4. Would this depend on the setting for the field if it's a serial auto-enter definition? Thanks a million, this is exactly what I was looking for. I have to learn bunch of stuff about scripting yet. I was little nervous how it will work in case I delete last record. Calculated result : Click Specify to enter the next serial value or create a calculation to determine the next serial value. Allows you to use the Manage Scripts feature to update the value.

You can define this script step to use any calculation expression to determine the next serial value of a field that has been defined as an auto-entry serial number field. The calculation always evaluates to a text result.

For example, you might want to reset the next serial value after you do one of the following:. This script step affects the definition of the field you specify instead of the actual contents of the field that you specify.

This script step can operate on multiple files. If you specify a field in another file, then FileMaker Pro attempts to update the serial number for the specified field in the other file. To specify a field in another file, define a relationship to that file and use Specify target field to select a field from that file.

Calculates the number of the next available invoice ID, using the Max function to return the highest value in the Invoice ID field. If an invoice ID contains non-numeric data, then the calculation would need to be more sophisticated to maintain the numeric and non-numeric data. Sets the next serial number value in the Invoice ID field options after importing records. Useful if Perform auto-enter options while importing is not selected in order to preserve dates and other auto-entered values.

Import Records script step. Defining calculation fields.