Autonumber value of last inserted row - MS Access / VBA

Question

I have a JET table with an auto-number as the primary key, and I would like to know how I can retrieve this number after inserting a row. I have thought of using MAX() to retrieve the row with the highest value, but am not sure how reliable this would be. Some sample code:

Dim query As String
Dim newRow As Integer
query = "INSERT INTO InvoiceNumbers (date) VALUES (" & NOW() & ");"
newRow = CurrentDb.Execute(query)

Now I know that this wouldn't work, since Execute() won't return the value of the primary key, but this is basically the kind of code I am looking for. I will need to use the primary key of the new row to update a number of rows in another table.

What would be the simplest / most readable way of doing this?

Answer 1

In your example, because you use CurrentDB to execute your INSERT you've made it harder for yourself. Instead, this will work:

  Dim query As String
  Dim newRow As Long  ' note change of data type
  Dim db As DAO.Database

  query = "INSERT INTO InvoiceNumbers (date) VALUES (" & NOW() & ");"
  Set db = CurrentDB
  db.Execute(query)
  newRow = db.OpenRecordset("SELECT @@IDENTITY")(0)
  Set db = Nothing

I used to do INSERTs by opening an AddOnly recordset and picking up the ID from there, but this here is a lot more efficient. And note that it doesn't require ADO.