Auto Numbering

CrimeStar provides you with the ability to automatically generate certain numbers for Accidents, Booking, Calls For Service Events, Citations, Field Interviews, Incidents, Property Tag and Warrants. To use this feature you can press CTRL+F5 (or SHIFT+F5) while you cursor is in the number field. The format of the number is either a direct counter (1,2,3...) or is determined by the Auto-Numbering format that is specified in the System Configuration module (if specific formatting is available). To configure the numbers used for a specific module, go to the configuration page for that module in the system configuration.

For Event Numbers CrimeStar gives you 3 different number format choices as follows:

Y=Year, M=Month, D=Day, N=Number, J=Julian Day Number P=Prepended Letter(s) L=Appended Letter(s) (Explained Below)

Gregorian Date + a 4 digit sequence # ( YYMMDDNNNNL )

Julian Date + a 4 digit sequence # ( YYJJJNNNNL )

2 Digit Year + Optional Dash + 6 Digit Sequence # ( YY-NNNNNNL )

For Booking and  Incident Numbers CrimeStar gives you 3 different number format choices as follows:

Julian Date + a 4 digit sequence # ( YYJJJNNNN )  - The resulting number is 9 digits long.

2 Digit Year + Sequence # ( YYNNNNN ) - The resulting number is 8 digits long

Simple Sequence # ( NNNNNN ) - The resulting number is 6 digits long with leading zeros.

For Citation Numbers, Field Interviews, Property Tag & Warrants CrimeStar provides the following format:

Simple Sequence # ( PNNNNNNNL )

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Using a ‘-‘ Character.

This option simply inserts a ‘-‘ between the year and the sequence number when a two digit year + Sequence format is selected.  Inserting the "-" increases the length of the resulting number string by 1..

WARNING ** Canceling an Auto Numbered Record

The auto numbering action simply gets the next number from the counter and advances the counter by one. Canceling the record input does NOT reset the counter back to where it was. Keeping track of cancellations is troublesome in a multi-user situation and here is why;. User "A" requests a number and gets #1 user "B" then requests a number and gets #2. Now user "A" cancels their entry. If we were try to reset the counter back so that #1 gets reused then the next number on the counter is #2 and we end up with two (2) # 2's. If we add users "C", "D" etc. things get even more complex. So as a rule don't request a number unless you intend to use it. If you do cancel, the worst that will happen is you will have a hole in your numbering rather than duplicate numbers assigned. Unless you immediately go into the Configuration module and adjust the numbering sequence counter.

Resetting Numbers at midnight.

When you select the reset @ midnight option, it will only apply if the numbering scheme you have chosen to use is of a Julian or Gregorian type, and generally this type of numbering scheme should always be reset at midnight. This is because the two digit year +Sequence # or the simple sequence number schemes do not give us any indication of the actual date and therefore would not be unique if reset. If we were to reset at midnight using a simple sequence numbering scheme the result would be that every day there would be a record 1,2,3 etc. each being the exact same number as those generated on the previous day. Example 99-0001 vs. 99-0001 or 000001 vs. 000001.   With the Julian or Gregorian numbering scheme as part of the number itself we are guaranteed that the number 1 created today will be different from the number 1 created yesterday because the root portion of the number changes with the date. Example 9907040001 vs. 9907050001.

The Julian and Gregorian numbering schemes only allow for a 4 digit sequence number, so if you choose to not reset the number at midnight then it is important that your agency's volume of activity be small enough to not require a counter number that will exceed 9999.

*  If is important to note that when running Crimestar CAD, event numbers ALWAYS reset at midnight regardless of this setting!

When the Reset @ Midnight option is selected the system simply compares the current computer date against the ‘Current Rollover Date’ listed on the CFS page of the Configuration Module. If the date is the same no reset takes place. If the rollover date has past the system resets the counter to 1 and sets the Current rollover Date to the current date.

Auto Numbering with Laptops and other disconnected remote databases

Using the Auto Numbering scheme with laptops or any computer that maintains its own Crimestar RMS database poses an obvious problem. Duplicate Numbers. Since each separate database maintains its own master number counter and since two or more totally disconnected databases have no way of knowing what number another database has assigned, each system will continue to generate numbers sequentially. When those multiple databases are merged or synchronized together the result is multiple data records that use the same number. While Crimestar has an internal method for uniquely identifying each record within the database, we are referring here to the reference numbers that are both visible and routinely used by users to identify data records in the system. The obvious solution to the problem is to include as part of the number that is generated some static identifier that forces the auto-generated number to be unique from all other numbers generated. Crimestar provides two optional INI configuration settings that can be used to prepend/append a letter or character(s) to each auto generated number. Since the letter or character(s) is user defined in the INI file the user has the responsibility of setting that value to something that is known to be unique from all other remote databases within the same organization. There are INI settings to;

Append a letter to an auto generated Event # and a different INI setting to append a letter to an auto generated Incident #. Those INI settings are as follows:

As an example, if you were to set the CFS INI file entry as follows: CFS_AN_APPEND=A, then every event number automatically generated by that respective computer would be appended with the letter "A" (100A, 101A, 102A, 103A, etc). Likewise if you were to set the INCIDENT INI file entry as follows: INC_AN_APPEND=H, then every incident number automatically generated by that respective computer would be appended with the letter "H" (100H, 101H, 102H, 103H, etc). So in circumstances where multiple laptops or remote databases are being merged together and reference numbers are being automatically generated this scheme can be used to force auto generated numbers to be unique providing that each computer is properly configured. It should also be noted here that the software will allow both Event and Incident numbers to be entered by hand without the use of the auto numbering scheme. This gives the user complete and total control so that he/she can ensure that reference numbers are unique.

* Note that while you can prepend or append whatever you wish, the total length of the value generated (including the prepended and appended values) should not exceed the total length of the database field where data is being entered.  If your auto-created value is too long the right side will be truncated.