Identifying Your New Records - Introduction

(Bruce Johnson) While the use of AutoNumber and Identity fields in tables is greatly applauded by database designers the world over, they can be annoying for developers to use. The problem being that, when we add records to the database, there are many cases where we need to know the key of the record that has just been added. Fortunately, there are a number of techniques that are available to assist us in our task. In this article we look at the methods for both SQL Server and Access, with an eye to the pros and cons of each. As always, our goal is to give you enough information to make up your mind.