ID field format

[look4game]

I´m coding a site for a store that uses product references in this format: AXXXX (X = number) ex: A1234 . Would it be possible to create an ID field, primary key, with this format (with auto_increment atributte)?

Thank You

[tsinka]

Hi,

this isn't possible. auto_increment can only be used on numeric fields. You need to use two fields to store that info.

On the other hand if the product IDs always start with A it might not be neccessary to save that A in the database at all. What to do depends if there's a chance that that ID will change in future.
Thomas

[look4game]

Thank you for the reply. Yes, it will always begin with an A, so I can add it in the code of the page. However, how can I use an ID like 0001 as example? What kind of INT do I have to use?

Thank you.

[laserlight]

You can just format it for display (which you must do to add the 'A' anyway), and keep to a normal integer otherwise.

[look4game]

Thank you laserlight. However, how can I make that? Imagine, I have a product which ID is 1 and another which ID is 234. How can I make it add three zeros in the first one and only one in the second one, so that t can turn into a format with 4 numbers?

Thank You.

[laserlight]

You can use say, [man]sprintf/man, or do the formatting manually.

$id = 'A' . sprintf("%'04u", $id);

[look4game]

laserlight, that was exactly what I needed.
Thank you very much 😉