The auto-increment column type provides a unique integer for every record in an iSheet, starting from 1 by default, or any number defined in Start value, and incrementing by 1.
The auto-increment column type has the following configurations:
Start value
Site admins may choose a start value other than 1 to begin the auto-increment series. If the start value is changed on an existing auto-increment column, all existing auto-increment values will be renumbered accordingly based upon the new start integer.
Prefix and Suffix
Both a prefix and a suffix (also referred to as a postfix) can be appended to the integer value. For example, if a prefix of "IMM-" is used, the auto-increment will appear as "IMM-1" as in the screenshot below. Using a prefix and/or a suffix can make an auto-increment column easier to read, or can be used as a unique identifier label such as an invoice number.
Min length (excluding prefix and postfix)
This configuration allows a site admin to apply a minimum character length to the auto-increment number. The Min length setting is set to 0 by default, meaning that numbers will auto-increment without any leading zeros. Applying a minimum length of 3 with a start value of 1, for example, would result in the auto-increment values formatted as follows:
IMM-001
IMM-002
IMM-003
etc...
The iSheet auto-increment value can exceed the minimum once that threshold is reached, so if more than 1,000 items were created in this iSheet, the auto-increment series would continue as follows:
IMM-999
IMM-1000
IMM-1001
As this configuration title indicates, the minimum character length refers only to the number portion of the auto-increment column. It does not include the character length of any configured prefix or suffix.
- If an auto-increment column is added after rows have been inserted into the iSheet, every row will still have a correct and unique number.
- If an item is deleted, there will be a gap in the auto-increment series, but that will not alter the proper incrementing for new items.
- If a new auto-increment column is added to an iSheet in which items had been previously deleted, gaps in the auto-increment series will also be reflected accordingly.
Auto-increment columns should be thought of as a method of assigning a unique identifier for each item and not as a sequential numbering index, as gaps in the numbering sequence will occur when items are deleted.
