Mysql – Auto Increment a column that is not unique…

MySQL

I've been thinking on this for a few hours, and I can't work out a viable solution – I can think of solutions, but they are clunky.

Using MySQL, I want to create an invoice table using auto increment for the invoice number. Pretty standard stuff. HOWEVER, my challenge is that I wish to have multiple companies generating invoices in this table, but all still with the unique invoice number that is auto incremented from the previous one.

For example:

Company A's previous invoice is 3010
Company B's previous invoice is 2144
Company C's previous invoice is 7889877

When Company A creates their next invoice I want it to be 3011. B to be 2145 etc.

I had the idea of doing a query WHERE company = 'B' ORDER BY id DESC then using PHP to increase that value++, then insert a new record with the invoice number inserted from PHP. In this case the 'id' field would be irrelevant to the actual invoice number, and just be a unique identifier.

Is there a better way?

Best Answer

That seems possible in MyISAM but afaik not using InnoDB:

CREATE TABLE `invoice_sequences` (
  `company_id` int(11) NOT NULL,
  `invoice_id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  PRIMARY KEY (`company_id`,`invoice_id`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM;

http://sqlfiddle.com/#!9/d135c/1 (if the fiddle returns an error, try again; it seems a bit slow sometimes).

Related Solutions

Mysql – Generating Invoices and Tracking

Cash matching

This is a cash matching problem. You can track this at one of two levels:

Compare invoiced to cash figures (somewhat sloppy but this is actually how it's done for inwards business by most Lloyd's Syndicates, often called a 'written vs. signed' report).
Maintain explicit cash allocations from cash payments broken down by invoice.

From your question I think you want to do the latter.

Typically this is done by having a separate set of cash transactions, and a bridging table that has the allocation of cash payments to invoices. If the values are equal or the cash payment comes with a single invoice reference you can do the allocation automatically. If there's a M:M relationship between invoices and payments you will need to do a manual matching process (doing this automatically is actually a variant of the knapsack problem).

A basic cash matching system

Imagine that you have an invoice table, a cash payments table and an allocation table. When you issue an invoice then you set up an invoice record in the invoices table and a 'receivable' or 'payable' record in the allocations table.

Invoice #1, $100
Allocation: a record with a reference to invoice #1, 'receivable' transaction type and $100 owing. No reference to a cash payment on this record.

Now, you get a cash payment of $100

Cash payments (chq #12345): $100
Allocation: a record with a reference to invoice #1 and chq #12345, 'cash' transaction type and -100 owing ($100 paid).

You can generalise this to a M:M relationship where you get multiple payments against a single invoice or a payment covering multiple invoices. This structure also makes it quite easy to build credit control reports. The report just needs to find invoices older than (say) 180 days that still have outstanding balances.

Here's an example of the schema plus a couple of scenarios and an aged debt query. Unfortunately I don't have a running mysql instance to hand, so this one is for SQL Server.

-- ==============================================================
-- === CashMatch.sql ============================================
-- ==============================================================
--


-- === Invoices =================================================
--
create table Invoice (
       InvoiceID        int identity (1,1) not null
      ,InvoiceRef       varchar (20)
      ,Amount           money
      ,InvoiceDate      datetime
)
go

alter table Invoice
  add constraint PK_Invoice 
      primary key nonclustered (InvoiceID)
go


-- === Cash Payments ============================================
--
create table CashPayment (
       CashPaymentID    int identity (1,1) not null
      ,CashPaymentRef   varchar (20)
      ,Amount           money
      ,PaidDate         datetime
)
go

alter table CashPayment
  add constraint PK_CashPayment
      primary key nonclustered (CashPaymentID)
go




-- === Allocations ==============================================
--
create table Allocation (
       AllocationID       int identity (1,1) not null
      ,CashPaymentID      int  -- Note that some records are not
      ,InvoiceID          int  -- on one side.
      ,AllocatedAmount    money
      ,AllocationType     varchar (20)
      ,TransactionDate    datetime
)
go

alter table Allocation
  add constraint PK_Allocation
      primary key nonclustered (AllocationID)
go


-- ==============================================================
-- === Scenarios ================================================
-- ==============================================================
--
declare @Invoice1ID int
       ,@Invoice2ID int
       ,@PaymentID int


-- === Raise a new invoice ======================================
--
insert Invoice (InvoiceRef, Amount, InvoiceDate)
values ('001', 100, '2012-01-01')

set @Invoice1ID = @@identity

insert Allocation (
       InvoiceID
      ,AllocatedAmount
      ,TransactionDate
      ,AllocationType
) values (@Invoice1ID, 100, '2012-01-01', 'receivable')


-- === Receive a payment ========================================
--
insert CashPayment (CashPaymentRef, Amount, PaidDate)
values ('12345', 100, getdate())

set @PaymentID = @@identity

insert Allocation (
       InvoiceID
      ,CashPaymentID
      ,AllocatedAmount
      ,TransactionDate
      ,AllocationType
) values (@Invoice1ID, @PaymentID, -100, getdate(), 'paid')



-- === Raise two invoices =======================================
--
insert Invoice (InvoiceRef, Amount, InvoiceDate)
values ('002', 75, '2012-01-01')

set @Invoice1ID = @@identity

insert Allocation (
       InvoiceID
      ,AllocatedAmount
      ,TransactionDate
      ,AllocationType
) values (@Invoice1ID, 75, '2012-01-01', 'receivable')


insert Invoice (InvoiceRef, Amount, InvoiceDate)
values ('003', 75, '2012-01-01')

set @Invoice2ID = @@identity

insert Allocation (
       InvoiceID
      ,AllocatedAmount
      ,TransactionDate
      ,AllocationType
) values (@Invoice2ID, 75, '2012-01-01', 'receivable')


-- === Receive a payment ========================================
-- The payment covers one invoice in full and part of the other.
--
insert CashPayment (CashPaymentRef, Amount, PaidDate)
values ('23456', 120, getdate()) 

set @PaymentID = @@identity

insert Allocation (
       InvoiceID
      ,CashPaymentID
      ,AllocatedAmount
      ,TransactionDate
      ,AllocationType
) values (@Invoice1ID, @PaymentID, -75, getdate(), 'paid')

insert Allocation (
       InvoiceID
      ,CashPaymentID
      ,AllocatedAmount
      ,TransactionDate
      ,AllocationType
) values (@Invoice2ID, @PaymentID, -45, getdate(), 'paid')



-- === Aged debt report ========================================
--
select i.InvoiceRef
      ,sum (a.AllocatedAmount)                 as Owing
      ,datediff (dd, i.InvoiceDate, getdate()) as Age
  from Invoice i
  join Allocation a
    on a.InvoiceID = i.InvoiceID
 group by i.InvoiceRef
         ,datediff (dd, i.InvoiceDate, getdate())
having sum (a.AllocatedAmount) > 0

Mysql – How to you have two auto-incremental columns in one table

What you are proposing to do can only be done with MySQL cleanly under three(3) conditions

CONDITION #1 : Use the MyISAM storage engine
CONDITION #2 : Make auto_increment column part of a compound primary key
CONDITION #3 : Each auto_increment for a given type must exist in its own row
See the auto_increment documentation for MyISAM

Here is your original table layout

CREATE TABLE `invoices` ( 
  `id` mediumint unsigned NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY, 
  `invoicenumber` mediumint unsigned NOT NULL, 
  `branch` enum('A','B') NOT NULL, 
  `date` date NOT NULL, 
  `client` varchar(100) NOT NULL 
) COMMENT='' ENGINE='InnoDB';

Based on the three conditions I just mentioned, here is the new proposed table layout:

CREATE TABLE `invoices` ( 
  `invoicenumber` mediumint unsigned NOT NULL auto_increment, 
  `branch` enum('A','B') NOT NULL, 
  `date` date NOT NULL, 
  `client` varchar(100) NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY (branch,invoicenumber)
) COMMENT='' ENGINE='MyISAM';

Here is an example via sample data and SQL:

drop database if exists user1162541;
create database user1162541;
use user1162541
CREATE TABLE `invoices` ( 
  `invoicenumber` mediumint unsigned NOT NULL auto_increment, 
  `branch` enum('A','B') NOT NULL, 
  `date` date NOT NULL, 
  `client` varchar(100) NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY (branch,invoicenumber)
) COMMENT='' ENGINE='MyISAM'; 
INSERT INTO invoices (branch,date,client) VALUES
('A',DATE(NOW()),'John'),
('B',DATE(NOW()),'Jack'),
('A',DATE(NOW()),'Jeff'),
('B',DATE(NOW()),'Joel'),
('A',DATE(NOW()),'Jane'),
('B',DATE(NOW()),'Joan'),
('A',DATE(NOW()),'June');
SELECT * FROM invoices ORDER BY branch,invoicenumber;

Here it is executed:

mysql> drop database if exists user1162541;
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.01 sec)

mysql> create database user1162541;
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.02 sec)

mysql> use user1162541
Database changed
mysql> CREATE TABLE `invoices` (
    ->   `invoicenumber` mediumint unsigned NOT NULL auto_increment,
    ->   `branch` enum('A','B') NOT NULL,
    ->   `date` date NOT NULL,
    ->   `client` varchar(100) NOT NULL,
    ->   PRIMARY KEY (branch,invoicenumber)
    -> ) COMMENT='' ENGINE='MyISAM';
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> INSERT INTO invoices (branch,date,client) VALUES
    -> ('A',DATE(NOW()),'John'),
    -> ('B',DATE(NOW()),'Jack'),
    -> ('A',DATE(NOW()),'Jeff'),
    -> ('B',DATE(NOW()),'Joel'),
    -> ('A',DATE(NOW()),'Jane'),
    -> ('B',DATE(NOW()),'Joan'),
    -> ('A',DATE(NOW()),'June');
Query OK, 7 rows affected (0.02 sec)
Records: 7  Duplicates: 0  Warnings: 0

mysql> SELECT * FROM invoices ORDER BY branch,invoicenumber;
+---------------+--------+------------+--------+
| invoicenumber | branch | date       | client |
+---------------+--------+------------+--------+
|             1 | A      | 2012-04-21 | John   |
|             2 | A      | 2012-04-21 | Jeff   |
|             3 | A      | 2012-04-21 | Jane   |
|             4 | A      | 2012-04-21 | June   |
|             1 | B      | 2012-04-21 | Jack   |
|             2 | B      | 2012-04-21 | Joel   |
|             3 | B      | 2012-04-21 | Joan   |
+---------------+--------+------------+--------+
7 rows in set (0.00 sec)

mysql>

Give it a Try !!!

CAVEAT : At present, only the MyISAM Storage Engine supports multiple auto_increment values grouped with other columns. This is not possible with InnoDB based on auto_increment columns being tied directly to the gen_clust_index (aka Clustered Index) !!!

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Mysql – Generating Invoices and Tracking

Mysql – How to you have two auto-incremental columns in one table

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