OK Michael,

This is the part where the problem gets interesting...

WHY do you need to have a primary key at the handheld?

Seems to me that you're just doing plain data collection and no real processing with the handhelds.

After you transfer the data to a PC, THEN you will need a primary key, and at that point you could use autonumbers.

If, otoh, you need to uniquely identify every part, then you will have to use the serial/part no at the handheld, but I think you should give us a bit more to go by.

Please keep in mind that I'm shooting in the dark here as I don't know anything about what you're doing, what you need, or why.

Have fun!

Alex


>It cannot be anything that requires user interaction or that would require the user to re-setup on the reader if it were rebooted or the battery died etc.