Hello,
I am working with incremental Sequential IDs for my records. Though this column is not the key I want this to remain unique as we more often use this for intra communication in the office and there is only one person adding the record. Despite that there are duplicate IDs getting created.
What do you think could be causing the creation of duplicate IDs in such scenario ?
Manish_Jain1:
What do you think could be causing the creation of duplicate IDs in such scenario ?
The process you’re using to generate the IDs is flawed.
See also:
[Serial Numbers, If You Must](https://community.appsheet.com/t/serial-numbers-if-you-must/19325) Tips & Tricks ?
Danger Ahead! In general, sequential numeric identifiers (i.e., serial numbers) are risky in AppSheet: if two users happen to add rows at the same time, both rows could be assigned the same serial number, which could lead to confusion (at the least) or data loss (at the worst). For this reason, serial numbers are strongly discouraged! Basic Serial Numbers One way to implement serial numbers is with a normal (not virtual) column named (e.g.) Serial of type Number and an Initial value expression …
(MAX(MyTable[Serial]) + 1)
Hi Steve,
This is the method I am using to generate the serial number and we cannot avoid sequential numbers as our communications, doc filing and our process depends on the sequence.
But why is it creating duplicates when only one user is creating the records ? This is what I don’t understand.
Even if the data is not syncing, it already exists in the local table of that user and it generates id based on that.
Please post screenshots of the complete expression that generates the serial number; of the column configuration screen including the top section, Type Details, and Auto Compute sections.
There is nothing here to indicate a reason for duplicate values. Are you absolutely sure it is only 1 user? I’d suggest investigating the edit history of the base gsheet, and/or the app’s audit logs.
Yes it was 100 percent 1 user . But yes when I checked with my staff, he said he had 2 browser windows open and I doubt he might have done one entry in one window and the other entry in the other. But does it really make a difference, the logged in user is just the same anyway .
Manish_Jain1:
he said he had 2 browser windows open and I doubt he might have done one entry in one window and the other entry in the other. But does it really make a difference,
Yes, it would.
Ok, That probably was the reason I think then. I would restrict working on 2 windows at the same time and see if that solves.
