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ms-accessbackendautonumber

Are there issues with tables using an autonumber as a primary key in a back-end ms access db?


I inherited an MS Access database at my office that is heavily used by several people over the network. This causes many issues with data collisions and locks. I want to split the db so that each user has thier own front-end app and maintain the core data on the server.

Several of the tables use an autonumber:sequence:long as thier primary key - in researching how to perform the split I've come across several posts that hint this can cause issues when distributing a database but I haven't been able to find anything solid. The issue seems to be that a user can begin a new record and receive the next autonumber but a second user can create a new record within a short interval and receive the same autonumber resulting in an error?

Does Jet handle this correctly or are there autonumber issues with a FE/BE database? If it's an unlikely-but-possile occurance I'm sure it will still be much better than what my users are currently experiencing but I'd like to know if there are ways I can minimize such issues.

Thanks for your help!


Solution

  • I've had the misfortune of working with many Access databases in my youth. While there are many issues with Access, I do not know if I've ever run into a problem with AutoNumber columns in a split database, multi-user environment. It should work fine. This is such a common setup that there would be posts all over the Internet about it if were an issue.