[Susan Thomson]

29/08/2014 at 5:22 pm

I have just started to work on this assessment with my Higher classes.

It is all quite straightforward apart from the auto-number field for Traveller ID. The sample data states it has to be in the format of ‘1000’, i.e. starting at 1000. The file supplied by the SQA uses this format.

However, I have no idea how this is achieved in Microsoft Access. There is nothing in the field’s properties settings of the SQA version of the file to suggest how they achieved it. I have used online help and ‘googled’ it and all the solutions to achieve this point towards writing SQL.

Can anyone tell me if this is achievable without writing SQL, or did the SQA just import the data from a spreadsheet, starting at 1000?

Susan Thomson
Vale of Leven Academy

[Anne Griffin]

01/09/2014 at 11:42 am

Hi Susan,

When you are creating the field and setting it to Autonumber you could try going to Format (in the General tab) and typing 1000; when you go to datasheet View it should start at 1000.

Anne

[Susan Thomson]

01/09/2014 at 8:04 pm

Hi Anne

Many thanks for your reply. I already tried that but all it does is prefix the number with a 1 and starts counting from 1001, not 1000. The SQA version of the solution does not have any prefixes or any kind of format settings in the properties so I can only assume that they have imported the data in from a spreadsheet, starting at 1000.

I have spent a good bit of time ‘Googling’ this very issue and it seems to be quite a common question and all the solutions point towards creating two tables, one starting at 999, then merging them together (or writing SQL). This all seems beyond the scope of the course so I think the SQA may have made an error here. I don’t believe that the pupils will fail any outcomes if they don’t achieve it so I won’t be spending any more time on it.

Once again, many thanks for taking the time to reply. It is much appreciated.

Susan