Next Number skipping

This issue is in JDE's FAQ in Oracle Support but still there is no easy solution so I am creating a new thread hoping to gather power from all of you to have a real solution.

We have been having question about why address book Next Number is skipping sporadically for years and now this issue is getting more serious as the next number is skipped to 7 digits. Our current next number for address book is 1005024 (7 digits) but there are only 45870 (5 digits) records totally in table F0101. So the gap of skipped next number is huge.

The document "E1: 01: FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions about Address Book Next Numbers (P0002) [ID 759399.1]" was found on Oracle Support website and the same issue is displayed on the item 1 there (1. Why are Address Book Next Numbers Skipping Sporadically? Next Numbers by Company is not active and Check Digit functionality is not active? ). The resolution in the document is actually suggesting us to monitor what applications are causing the problem - it seems it is not easy to find a solution. We are writing this Service Request hoping to get your experience or suggestions before we proceed with some steps.

1. One option could be manually change the current next number for system code 01 to a smaller number. For example we can change it from 1005024 to 100700. It is mentioned in FAQ item 3. Next Numbers for Address Book are handled differently than other Next Numbers. If the maximum number (i.e. 99999999) has been used, the next number for Address Book rolls to the next available number. So we guess lower the current Next Number would be OK and this might be the fastest workaround.
Is it safe to lower the next number manually?

2. Is there a way that we can enable a logging of next number updates or address book creation?
If so we might be able to track down and find what application are causing the next number skipping.

3. If we have to do logging by ourselves we are thinking to add table trigger to F0002.
Do you have any experience of performance impact for applying table trigger to F0002?
Is there a way that we can capture Program ID in Audit Information so we know which program of business function is changing F0002.

I found one existing post for the same issue.
Related post: Post 164185

Hi There! Di you have any custom programs where the AB# is shown on the form header? If developers do not explicitly turn off AB# next number assignment when they add AN8 data dictionary item on a form, it will cause the NN to be increased.. I would suggest you use cross reference facility to look for all P55xxx programs using AN8 and see if the "assign next number" checkbox is selected

Hope this helps
/Aarto

Hi,

I had to investigate this some time ago. Like Aarto said, it's mostly from custom apps. I ended up creating a small tool to mine the FDA specs and find instances of an edit control tied to AN8 with the Next number functionality enabled. Could dig it up if anyone is interested.

Craig

Ditto! What Aarto said!

Hi all,

As I wrote in another thread with same topic, we had same trouble on E1 8.12. After several weeks we found, that source is not our custom program, but standard P42290. There is hidden AN8 field, where is not disabled next numberring. When form is open, than AB number is consumed.

Ejsan

Hi,

We are also in 8.12 and have inspected P42290 via ObjectBrowser (wonderful tool by Craig Welton) but I don't see any business function calls to increment the next number for address book...I also didn't see any ESU's being generated for this app either. If its ok? Can you be more specific, I would like to investigate more on this...

@Harry - you can move the next number back to any number you wish to start with again and it will be no problem since the GetNextNumber function call will just loop to find the next available number so there would be no issues. I have done it and no issues...you might want to put security in address book application though.

Hope this helps.

Hi Oliver,

Trouble is with AN8 hidden field, where is not disables Next Numbering. There is no any BSFN.
In attachment is shown, how to correct in Form Design.

Ejsan

Oliver,

At my current site (9.1) P42290 does have a hidden AN8 item with the NN still on (see attachment). It does burn a next number every time you open the form.

Craig

Thanks all for your comments.
Craig, can you please explain a little more into details what tool you use and how to find all objects/forms that use AN8?

We have exported from Cross Reference a list of all applications that use AN8 and are currently checking them one by one manually.
Regards, --Harry

Just to mention that we made a table trigger for table F0002 in testing environment and used business function B9800100 (Get Audit Information) and write the data from F0002 into a custom table to capture all changes made to address book next number (system code 01). And we captured some applications like P07620 (Vacation). The major reason of next number skipping is really caused by using AN8 in a default way.
The solution should be: go to the Form Design Aid, go the field properties, go to Overrides tab, click Data Dictionary Overrides, CHECK-OFF the check box "Next Numbering".

So now the challenge is to find all applications and places using AN8 that way.
I will update you if the solution solved all next number skipping.

Thanks ejsan and Craig!!!

Harry,

The tool is a Win32 console program that examines all the Form specifications within a pathcode. If an edit control is tied to a DD item that uses the 01/0 next number index and the Disable Next Number check box is not enabled, the program spits out the app, form, control ID and DD Item. There are false positives, but it gives a really good starting point. We found a few custom apps were causing a big issue, but there are base JDE apps that do as well. Especially, the self-service apps for some reason. Let me know if you're interested.

Craig

we did something ver similar to find a bad AN8 initialaiztion, table trigger on the F0002. The developer had done it on many fields so it's good that we caught it before to many next numbers were wasited.

[ QUOTE ]
Hi,

I had to investigate this some time ago. Like Aarto said, it's mostly from custom apps. I ended up creating a small tool to mine the FDA specs and find instances of an edit control tied to AN8 with the Next number functionality enabled. Could dig it up if anyone is interested.

Craig

[/ QUOTE ]

Craig,

We also face the same issue of skipping address book number, can you please give me more details about the tool that you have created and from where I can download it.. I could not find it in your Patwel.com.

It's real quick and dirty. Just run from a command line on a developer workstation.

NNControls.exe AN8

It takes 1 parameter, a DDItem. It will figure out the NN system for that item and return all Form Controls that have the setting. Output goes to the screen and file called output.csv in the same directory.

Let us know if it helps.

No guarantees, remember what you paid for it

NOTE: THIS IS NOT FOR XE.

[ QUOTE ]
It's real quick and dirty. Just run from a command line on a developer workstation.

NNControls.exe AN8

It takes 1 parameter, a DDItem. It will figure out the NN system for that item and return all Form Controls that have the setting. Output goes to the screen and file called output.csv in the same directory.

Let us know if it helps.

No guarantees, remember what you paid for it

NOTE: THIS IS NOT FOR XE.

[/ QUOTE ]

Craig,

That worked like a charm. It made my work easier, thanks for this excellent tool Craig.

Now I have to just fix the override in the list of applications(170 forms) given by your tool.

Thanks again Craig.

Glad it worked for you. I'd check out any custom programs first. That's where we saw the biggest bang.

Craig

Hi all, just ran into this issue but with a novel new twist.

A bus view field such as AN8 or in my case, Health & Safety Incident # that is added to a form via Form Extension exhibits this behavior, but there is no remedy other than to not use that field. At least in our tools release! Just a heads up. In my case I had to use User Reserved Number to avoid incrementing the NN.

DaveWagoner said:

Hi all, just ran into this issue but with a novel new twist.

A bus view field such as AN8 or in my case, Health & Safety Incident # that is added to a form via Form Extension exhibits this behavior, but there is no remedy other than to not use that field. At least in our tools release! Just a heads up. In my case I had to use User Reserved Number to avoid incrementing the NN.

Click to expand...

Wow 11 years later, you will break a record !

Christian Audet said:

Wow 11 years later, you will break a record !

Click to expand...

I'm a talented guy, what can I say