In Delphi applications, the use of tables containing fields that autoincrement, or change automatically in some manner unknown to the application, can be problematic. Paradox, InterBase, Sybase and Informix tables all provide means of inserting or updating field values automatically, without intervention from the front- end application. Not every table operation is affected by this mechanism, however. So, this document will attempt to provide a guideline for dealing with issues relating to the use of such field types in Paradox 5.0, Informix 5.x, MS/Sybase SQL Server 4.x, InterBase 4.0 and Local InterBase tables. For each table type, a different mechanism provides this behind-the-scenes behavior. Paradox tables support an Autoincrement field type. When new records are added to such tables, the Borland Database Engine determines the highest current value in that column, adds one, and updates the new row with the new value. For Informix tables, this behavior is provided by an Informix-specific field type called Serial. Serial columns differ from Paradox Autoincrement fields in that their values may be changed, while Autoincrement columns are read-only. InterBase and MS/Sybase SQL Server tables do not support a special type for this kind of behavior, but may employ triggers to accomplish the same task. Triggers are specialized procedures that reside on the database server and automatically execute in response to events such as table inserts, updates and deletes. The use of tables with associated triggers can be particularly problematic, since triggers are capable of doing much more than just incrementing column values. The three areas that are affected by these field types are simple inserts, batchmoves, and table linking. Handling Update and/or Append BatchMoves ----------------------------------------------------------------- Paradox Tables Since the Autoincrement field type is a read-only type, attempting to perform a batchmove operation with such a column in the destination table may cause an error. To circumvent this, the TBatchMove components Mappings property must be set to match source table fields to the target destination fields excluding the destination table's Autoincrement field. Informix Tables Batch moving rows to Informix tables with Serial columns will not cause an error in and of itself. However, caution should be used since Serial columns are updateable and are often used as primary keys. InterBase Tables MS/Sybase SQL Server Tables Triggers on InterBase and SQL Server tables may catch any improper changes made to the table, but this depends strictly upon the checks placed in the trigger. Here again, caution should be used since trigger-updated columns are often used as primary keys. Linking Tables via MasterSource & MasterFields ----------------------------------------------------------------- Paradox Tables Informix Tables If the MasterFields and MasterSource properties are used to create linked tables in a master-detail relationship and one of the fields in the detail table is an Autoincrement or Serial field, then the matching field in the master table must be a Long Integer field or a Serial field. If the master table is not a Paradox table then the master table's key field may be any integer type it supports. InterBase Tables MS/Sybase SQL Server Tables Linking with these tables types presents no particular problems relating to trigger-modified fields. The only necessity is matching the appropriate column type between the two tables. Simple Inserts/Updates ----------------------------------------------------------------- Paradox Tables Since Paradox Autoincrement fields are read-only, they are not typically targeted for update when inserting new records. Therefore, the Required property for field components based on Autoincrement fields should always be set to False. This can be accomplished from within Delphi, using the Fields Editor to define field components at design time by double clicking on the TQuery or TTable component or at runtime with a statement similar to the following. Table1.Fields[0].Required := False; or Table1.FieldByName('Fieldname').Required := False; Informix Tables Although Informix Serial fields are updateable, if their autoincrement feature is to be used, then the Required property of field components based on them should be set to False. Do this in the same manner described for Paradox Tables. InterBase Tables MS/Sybase SQL Server Tables Handling inserts on these trigger-modified table types requires a number of steps for smooth operation. These additional steps are particularly necessary if inserts are accomplished via standard data-aware controls, such as DBEdits and DBMemos. Inserting rows on trigger-modified InterBase and SQL Server tables may often yield the error message 'Record/Key Deleted'. This error message appears despite that the table is properly updated on the server. This will occur if: 1. The trigger updates the primary key. This is not only likely when a trigger is used, but is probably the most common reason for using a trigger. 2a. Other columns in the table have bound default values. This is accomplished with the DEFAULT clause at table creation in the case of InterBase. or with the sp_bindefault stored procedure in SQL Server. or 2b. Blob type fields are updated when a new row is inserted. or 2b. Calculated fields are defined in an InterBase table. The fundamental cause for this is that when the record (or identifying key) is changed at the server, the BDE no longer has means of specifically identifying the record for re-retrieval. That is, the record no longer appears as it did when it was posted, therefore the BDE assumes that the record has been deleted (or the key changed). Firstly, the field components of trigger-modified fields must have their Required property set to False. Do this in the same manner described for Paradox Tables. Secondly, to avoid the spurious error, order the table by an index that does not make use of fields updated by the trigger. This will also prevent the newly entered record from disappearing immediately after insertion. Lastly, if requirement 1 above holds but neither 2a, 2b nor 2c hold, then code similar to the following should be used for the table component's AfterPost event handler. procedure TForm1.Table1AfterPost(DataSet: TDataset); begin Table1.Refresh end; A Refresh of the table is necessary to re-retrieve the values changed by the server. If criteria 2a, 2b or 2c cannot be avoided, then the table should be updated without using Delphi's data-aware controls. This can be accomplished using a TQuery component targeted at the same table. Once the query has posted the update, any table components using the same table should be Refreshed.