Ken:

You can create a stored procedure that generates the next available key then return it to the client with code like this:

lnKey = 0
= sqlexec(lnhandle, "{CALL spGetKey (?@lnKey)}")

or

What I do is get a key at the start of an application using the above code, then each time I need a new key I concatenate it with a key generated on the client. This way you save round trips to the server each time you need a new key.

Charlie