MS Access Inventory and Auto Increment Values - ms-access

Question

I'm fairly new to MS Access, but I'm trying to make a user friendly database to maintain an inventory of blood products.
I need to track a few different points of information.
DIN
Blood Type
Product Type
Expiration Date
I've already figured out a system to add products to a table using a form, but right now it's not very specific to my needs.
To increase tracking capability I wanted to be able to assign new inventory items to different rack #s and storage units. I have 15 different storage units and I have literally hundreds of racks I could be filling.
So what I'm having trouble with is streamlining the process of assigning my units to different racks incrementally. I have an excel spreadsheet that does this, but it's not friendly to the end user.
So what I'd like to do is have my form accept barcode scans from the product which contains all the information I need except for the rack # and position in the rack. The idea is that I want to be able to use the form to put the Rack # in and then have the form automatically increment the slot in the rack as I scan them in.
I already know how to have default values carry over from the last form so I don't need to retype the rack # or freezer # as I fill the rack.
The format I'm going for is 1-1, 1-2, 2-1, 2-2 and so on until I reach position 8-2. Each rack holds 16 units. So I'd like for the slot # to autoincrement up to 8-2 then reset and clear the rack # field.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

You can simply increment a number by 1 for each reading.
Dim n As Long
Dim Position As String
n = n + 1
Position = (((n - 1) \ 2) Mod 8) + 1 & "-" & ((n - 1) Mod 2) + 1
Or, not using a number but reading the last Position:
n = Val(Split(LastPosition, "-")(0)) * 2 + Val(Split(LastPosition, "-")(1)) - 1
Position = (((n - 1) \ 2) Mod 8) + 1 & "-" & ((n - 1) Mod 2) + 1
Edit:
If you haven't done already, add an AutoNumber field to the table names, say, Id.
Create a function like this:
Public Function RackPosition(ByVal Number As Long) As String
Dim Index As Long
Dim Position As String
' Avoid zero and negative numbers.
Index = Abs(Number) + 1
Position = (((Index - 1) \ 2) Mod 8) + 1 & "-" & ((Index - 1) Mod 2) + 1
RackPosition = Position
End Function
Then, in your form, include a textbox to display the rack position using this expression as ControlSource:
=IIf(IsNull([Id]),Null,RackPosition(Nz([ID],0)))

Answer 2

This is what to do:
Table: Change the data type of Freezer and Rack to Number, Integer
Form: Adjust the three textboxes, Freezer, Rack, and Position to be rught aligned
Module: Adjust to read like this:
-
Option Compare Database
Option Explicit
Public Function RackPosition(ByVal Number As Long) As String
Dim Index As Long
Dim Position As String
' Avoid zero and negative numbers.
Index = Abs(Number) + 1
Position = (((Index - 1) \ 2) Mod 8) + 1 & "-" & ((Index - 1) Mod 2) + 1
RackPosition = Position
End Function
Form module: Adjust like this:
-
Private Sub SetPosition()
Const Positions As Integer = 16
Dim Number As Integer
Dim Criteria As String
If Nz(Me!Freezer.Value, 0) + Nz(Me!Rack.Value, 0) = 0 Then
' No rack data.
ElseIf IsNull(Me!Position.Value) Then
' Calculate next available position.
Criteria = "[Freezer] = " & Me!Freezer.Value & " And [Rack] = " & Me!Rack.Value & " And [Position] Is Not Null"
Number = DCount("*", "Blood Inventory (Raw)", Criteria)
If Number >= Positions Then
MsgBox "This rack is full", vbInformation + vbOKOnly, "Position"
Else
Me!Position.Value = RackPosition(Number)
End If
End If
End Sub
Private Sub Freezer_AfterUpdate()
SetPosition
End Sub
Private Sub Text42_AfterUpdate()
SetPosition
End Sub
Now, when Freezer and Rack is entered, Position is filled out automatically.