Anyone here know how to do an incremental record count on grouped records? e.g.,
Key Count
A 1
A 2
A 3
B 1
B 2
B 3
B 4
B 5

Thanks in advance,
Peter

When you show, for example, these three rows:
How did you decide that the "A"'s were in that order? In other words, how do you distingush one "A" from another and order them the way you did? For example, what is it about the "A" in row 2 that placed it there?

I'm not trying to be flip here, but you have attributed an ordering to this data where none is apparent to me. Remember that the rows in a table are a set, and by definition, a set is unordered. Without some reliable way to distingush one row from another and thus impose some ordering on the data, you can't count it to assign an ordinal value to a column. Hint: the concept of physical order does not apply in a relational database - even Access.

Now suppose you had another column in the table which could be used to order the data. Let's suppose there was an 'EntryDate' date datatype column in the table. Now we can assign a value by dividing the table into subsets where each subset contains all the rows whose date value is less than 'this' row. We use a correlated subquery:
Jeff Mason
Custom Apps, Inc.
www.custom-apps.com

Jeff,
  Understood...I'm not trying to order the data, just apply a count based on how many of records of each key value exists in this table. "A" exists 5 times so the first "A" record gets a 1, the 2nd record gets a 2, the 3rd "A" records gets a 3. For example, a purchase order has one record in a key table and five details lines in a detail table. Each detail line needs the purchase order number and the 5 numbered detail lines.
PurchaseOrder(key) LineNbr(count)
A 1
A 2
A 3
A 4
A 5

How do I get Access to apply the line number count?

Hope I explained myself better with this example.
Thanks,
Peter

You're missing my point.

When you say "the first "A" record gets a 1, the 2nd record gets a 2" and so on, how do you define "first"? What makes something "2nd"?

This is not merely semantics. The concepts of "first", "2nd", "third", etc have a name - these are called "ordinal numbers" and as the name implies this means that the numbering is based on some sort of ordering.

The query I gave you will number the rows based on an ordering which I invented, i.e. some date.

What is the basis of your ordering?

Now, in the case of your detail lines, you would be better served by assigning something that distinguishes one detail line from another at the time the lines were entered. In other words, you probably should have assigned the line number as each line is entered. Thus, the key in your detail table should consist of the purchase order number plus some identifier like an assigned line number.

What is the key for your detail table now? (If you used an autonumber ID column, you can use that in the query I posted instead of the date I assumed. - you need something to distinguish one detail line from another for a given purchase order - something on which to base "firstness", "secondness" etc. Anything that can be ordered will do.




Jeff Mason
Custom Apps, Inc.
www.custom-apps.com

Did you ever get an answer to your incremental numbering.
I know it was a long time ago. I have the same problem so
if you can help out.

Michael