Generating unique id strings

Hi
I want to generate a unique record number in the following format
Company initials/year/Counter/RecordType (e.g. SDS/04/00123/WB)

Could someone recommend how I go about generating this number?

Should I create a separate table with columns for each section of the number and concantenate the columns in ID field of the actual table?

... or should I just create a stored procedure to generate the number each time?

... or should I do something completely different?

Regards
John :confused:First, I'd recommend against doing this unless this code is required by the business process, i.e. recognized by the system users. Such codes are of little or no value to the application.

If all four of these values already exist in the table, then you could add a calculated column to your table that concatenates them to form the ID. These types of keys are often called "Superkeys", but with the availability of composite keys they are of little use these days and are often difficult to maintain.|||Thanks blindman, I'll take your advise and k.i.s.|||you could create a formula to concatenate the other fields and use it as the default value of a new field in the same row

I don't think I explained this very well

er

read about using formulas as default values in BOL

GW|||As a default value it would not update automatically if any of it's components change. That's the advantage of a calculated field.|||Apologies

U right of course blindman

I was'nt thinking

GW