Mike,

That is the method I am using, an id table. It is indicated in this portion of my message:

This procedure stores the last key value used for a field in a table in a id table that maintains values. The id table's structure looks like this:

talbe_name field_name last_key
table1        field1     1000

I have also explained why I am using GO BOTTOM to retrieve the maximum value.

Dawa

>Hi Dawa
>
>In a nutshell, create a new table that holds the last ID generated per data table in your system.
>
>Every time you want a new key, access the ID table, increment the last key on the record for the data table, and return that key as the new key.
>
>GO BOTTOM will not be reliable and as the size of the file grows, the performance will drop.
>
>>Hi Mike, Craig,
>>
>>Mike, thanks for the message.
>>
>>I think Craig wants to know the reason behind your goal because if you're doing this to generate a primary key there are alternatives.
>>
>>Sorry, Craig, I didn't make it clear enough. Yes, this is part of primary key generation procedure that's stored in my database. I am using VFP7, so Integer Auto Increment is not an option until I upgrade my project into VFP8.
>>1. The procedure takes a table name and a field name as parameters
>> they are used to search for (table name+field name) entry
>>2. If found, then
>> 2.1. get the maximum key value from the target table
>> 2.2. compare the max value against the last key
>> 2.2.1 if max is larger than last_key replace last key with the max value
>> 2.2.2 increment last key and return it
>>3. If not found, the entry is created
>>
>>In my inital procedure, I didn't have 2.2.1. I had to add this because an error occoured on one of our user's machines. In one of the target tables, two entries with the same key value appeared. Ever since I added this line, this instance hasn't happened yet. Since, this routine is frequently accessed (every time a record inserted into one of target tables), I would like find the most efficient approach.
>>
>>Any, better alternitives I will embrace.
>>
>>I am runing a test with three different approaches that I considering. I will post the result soon.
>>
>>Dawa