COM-Gen 2000^TM Help - Page 5 of 7
©1999 Q&D Software Development

The Choose Keys screen (shown below) displays a list of the fields contained in each of the tables you chose in the previous (Choose Tables) screen. The purpose of this screen is to allow you to choose 'Auto' fields and Primary Key fields if necessary. Details follow the graphic.

It is extremely important that you indicate to COM-Gen 2000^TM any automatically generated fields contained in your tables by checking the 'Auto' column for those fields. 'Auto' fields include AutoNumber fields (MS-Access), IDENTITY fields (SQL Server), values generated by a Sequence and inserted into the table (Oracle), or any other method used by a database to automatically populate a primary key field with a unique value. Indicating these fields to COM-Gen 2000^TM tells the program not to include these fields in INSERT statements within 'Add' procedures. Failing to indicate these fields properly will result in errors when you attempt to use a collection class's 'Add' method to insert new records.

Of equal importance is the indication to COM-Gen 2000^TM of Primary Key fields by checking the box in the Primary column for each appropriate field. (If a table's primary key consists of more than one field - a composite key - each field in the key must be checked.) COM-Gen 2000^TM bases each class's Update method upon the indications you make in the Primary column. Therefore, it is extremely important that the indications you make in this regard are accurate.

[Note: When using a SQL Server database, your Primary and Auto columns should be pre-populated for you. When using an Oracle database via Microsoft's Oracle driver, the Primary Key column should be automatically be checked appropriately. Using an Access database or an Oracle database via Oracle's own driver will necessitate your checking Auto and Primary Key fields manually.]