auto_increment serial generator?

jonathen

Hi,

This is probably very easy, but as I am a newbie, I cannot figure an easy way to do exactly what I want.

What I am trying to achieve, is in essence, a form serial number generator. I have a PHP form that has various fields which output to a printout form and that all works fine. However, one of the fields, called serial (which is a "dead" field, disabling changes made to it) needs to have a serial number which I can specify (i.e ABC-123-001) but which I need to increment every time the form is visited (irrespective of same IP etc)

So if the form is refreshed 3 times, then the serial will increment 3 times (i.e ABC-123-003) and this is displayed within the "serial" form field on the form.

Should I create a dbase with a field in it using auto_increment, then include serial.php within the form field, and set serial.php to connect to the db and echo the serial? If so (and I know I sound stupid now, but my knowledge is fairly limited!) how would I go about echoing the serial from the db to serial.php? I understand how to create the db and include serial.php within the form field, just not too sure how to:

Set the db up correctly with auto_increment
Select the correct info within serial.php from the db.

Or is there another way of doing this?

Any help is much appreciated

TIA

Jonathen

suntra

What about a simple little file containing the last serial ?!

jonathen

What exactly do you mean?

suntra

First, you write a seriel in a file (serial.txt for example).

When you need to print the serial, you open the file, read the serial, change it, close the file, and print the serial.

If you do it this way, you won't need a database.

Do you understand ?

jonathen

Sorry I took so long to say thanks - just got round to doing it, and it works wonderfully. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction; with a little playing I got it working nicely. Cheers!
🙂