If you prefer to have character PKs instead of AutoInc you could use a routine like this one:
http://www.feldstein.net/newid.asp

Primary Keys should be numbers that do not have any relation to the actual data (e.g. not know or devised by the users). They should be unique across the table.


>after change to AutoInc, i got error message Function argument value, type, or count is invalid
>at this line,
>
>but i need to insert it by hand (it must be character type),
>

>cAlias = THISFORM.DATAENVIRONMENT.INITIALSELECTEDALIAS
>SELECT (cAlias)
>if act_flag="1"
>LOCATE FOR UPPER(shipno) =ALLTRIM(thisform.text1.Value)&& error message
>IF FOUND()
>=MESSAGEBOX("DUPLICATED")
>