Walter,

>...This seems not to be possible with the new VFP 8 incrementing key feature.

Gee, you're talking like you have already seen the VFP.Next implementation of autoincrement. If you haven't seen it yet, maybe it would be best not to judge it in advance. You might be right in your assessments, but I think I'll wait to see just what the Fox team does with it before writing it off.