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DavidBrogdon's avatar
DavidBrogdon
Qrew Assistant Captain
6 years ago

Best format for Unique Number Generation

I am in need of unique numbers for multiple different tables and am wondering what the best format is for the structure. 

So far I know that I will need to track a letter to correspond to the table. I will also need to track a year, a month, and a constant four digit section containing the record Id, padded with leading zeroes. 

My specific question is, for searchability, etc. Should I put the letter and/or date at the end or the beginning. 

Example:      Q18290001  vs  00011829Q  ??

Any thoughts? Pros, cons? 

Thanks for any advice. 


PS, current code looks like this-->

"Q" & Right(ToText(Year([Quote Date])),2) & If(Month([Quote Date]) < 10, "0", "") & ToText(Month([Quote Date])) & Right("00000" & ToText([Record ID#]), 4)
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  • QuickBaseCoachD's avatar
    QuickBaseCoachD
    Qrew Captain
    6 years ago
    I would put the [Record ID#] portion last and I would suggest for human readability having some dashes or at least a space to separate the elements.

    Q-18-03-1234

    I would also suggest to zero pad the month like i did above


    • DavidBrogdon's avatar
      DavidBrogdon
      Qrew Assistant Captain
      6 years ago
      Thanks for your reply. Are there any performance, searchability, or other benefits to having the letter in front vs at the end, likewise are there specific benefits to using the record ID at the end vs beginning? I'm just trying to be thorough before I start tracking real data with one format or the other. It seems like the record ID at the front would make drop-down search typing more accurate?
    • QuickBaseCoachD's avatar
      QuickBaseCoachD
      Qrew Captain
      6 years ago
      The new type ahead drop down record picker (which you probably have not experienced yet) is wonderful because it is essentially a live "contains" search regardless of the position of the numeric portion of the string.  You can request early access now by putting in a support ticket. 

      But because that is imminent, you should have the record ID portion last for human convenience.

      There is no performance difference for Quick Base.
    • DavidBrogdon's avatar
      DavidBrogdon
      Qrew Assistant Captain
      6 years ago
      Okay, thanks for that info. How will the new record picker affect typing in grid edit mode? At the moment I am able to type a few numbers or letters and it brings up the related record I need and I can quickly go through a long list of records in grid edit mode like this. Will the new picker exhibit the same functionality?