Serial Number Re-Calculated

The serial number's purpose is as a unique identifier for each box. It is included in the barcode of each box label so that the system knows definitively which box is being scanned. When boxes are added to the system, the serial number is auto-calculated. The formula involves taking the box number, the packing date and the product code and combining them. The reason it is important that this field gets properly loaded is that the primary grid must be able to distinguish between records to be able to work with them independently. For example, if the field values of 2 records were all identical you couldn't edit any of the fields in either one of them. You would get an error because the grid wouldn't know which of the 2 records you were referring to (sounds stupid, but this is a "feature" of an SQL database). To protect against this the following precautions are taken by the system:

• The box number is assigned automatically when new boxes are added and this number is incremented for each box.
• The serial number is auto-calculated.
• The gross weight field is loaded with a random data value to ensure the record is unique.

However, this does not ensure that the serial number does not conflict with an existing serial number. Or perhaps the boxes you are adding have genuine serial numbers already and you have to make sure the serial number in the database table matches the barcode on the label. In these cases, you want to change the box number and have the serial number recalculated. To have the serial number recalculated, do the following:

• If necessary, alter the product code and the date code fields first.
• Clear the serial number field by clicking in it and pressing the Delete key.
• Edit the box number field and the serial number will be auto-calculated.