Auto Increment/Auto Number

[PoshSpur]

Hi,

I am completely new to MySQL. I have been using MS Access all my life but finally decided to move into PHP & MySQL.

In Access, I can create a table and have a field that has the datatype of an auto-number (auto-increment).

Whenever I enter anything in the fields of that table, the auto-number field increments.

When I create a form, I can see the ID incrementing. Can I do this with MySQL?

For instance, I want to create a field that is called INVOICE and the field must auto-increment. I then want to create a report that displays all the invoices with the field INVOICE showing the invoice numbers.

I am sure this can be done. Can anyone help?

Is it also posible to have a string in the increment field? For example, in the INVOICE field, I would like to have all the invoices starting with the year they are generated, e.g. INVOICE 2005/00001. Can this also be done?

[maxpup979]

set the type to:
INT UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT

[superwormy]

You cannot ( and shouldn't have ) a string in the auto increment field.

But you could have another field, say 'date_order_placed' which kept track of the date for you, and then when you print the order you do:

print("INVOICE " . $record['date_order_placed'] . "/" . $record['id_num']);