Admin.exe: Increasing the RefNr of a table

When working with features like MusicID = RefNr the database reference number is stored inside the metadata of an element. This is a quick way to generate unique IDs for synchronizing with 3rd party systems.

When doing a database migration to a new SQL server such IDs can remain inside the metadata but the alignment will usually generate new reference numbers in the target system. That's OK because you want to keep the old IDs in metadata and this won't be modified later.

When finishing the database migration usually the new system will be switched to be the master system. Now users are able to generate new elements there. This would mean that the IDs inside the metadata will be then taken from the RefNr.

Now it can happen that the real reference numbers are smaller than the used numbers of the migrated system. This happens e.g. when someone deletes content. The goal is to manually increase the counter for the reference number to force the system using IDs higher than the highest values used in the old system.

There is a method doing this by importing a prepared .dbe or .dbx file via the Admin tool.

*** Please be very carefully with this method and ensure that you have valid backups of your system and databases ***

First you need to create a .dbe file which needs to have the following sections: NUMBER, TITLE, FILENAME The field [NUMBER] must contain the value of the reference number you want to set. The field [TITLE] should just contain a test string. The field [FILENAME] should point to a dummy audio file located in the media folder of the table.

The table must be configured to read DBE files: DBE = Read

In Admin Tool open ODBC \ ... \ DigAS-Tables \ ... From context menu of right mouse button over the desired table you must select to import DBE/DBX files Please switch to mode "Use the single temporary DBE/DBX file" Select your .dbe file which should be located outside the media folder of the table. Be sure that the following option is disabled: Overwrite existing entries with the same reference number!

When performing the import the .dbe file is read and the new element is created inside the selected table. The value from [NUMBER] is used to increase the reference number. After restarting Admin tool you can verify the counter from the properties of the table.

Please note that this action cannot be reset. Please pay attention that you don't specify a RefNr below the highest currently used. See properties of the table!