Manipulating Record IDs in Ninox

Record IDs in Ninox

• Each new record in Ninox is assigned a unique ID (identifier).
• The numbering starts at 1 for a new table and increments by 1 for each new entry (2, 3, etc.).
• Deleted IDs are not reassigned. Therefore, the highest ID in the table reflects the total number of records created, including those that were deleted and are no longer visible.
• ID Representation:
  • IDs can be represented as numbers or text.
  • When represented as text, the ID combines the table's ID (one or more uppercase letters) with the record number.
    Example: "A1"

Key notes on IDs

• Converting an ID to Text:
  • Use the string() function to get a textual representation of an ID.
  • The text() function only returns the numeric part of the ID as text. Example: "1".
• Example:

string(maTable.id); // Correct textual representation, e.g., "A1"
text(maTable.id);   // Only the numeric part as text, e.g., "1"

• Using IDs in Expressions:
  • When performing arithmetic or concatenation, the ID adopts the type of the other data.
• Example:

var t := "Num ID: " + maTable.id;

Output : Num ID: 1

Searching for Records by ID

To retrieve a record by ID in a where clause, you can use either a number or a text representation.

Using a Number:

select Customer where id = 1;

Using Text:

When using text, ensure that the ID includes both the table's ID and the record number.

Example:

select Customer where id = "B1";

Extract the record number from an ID

This function lets you pull out the record number from a text‑based ID (e.g., A1):

function recordNumber(id : text) do
  "Capture the digit group.";
  number(extractx(id, "^[A-Z]+([0-9]+)$", "", "$1"))
end;

"Example: apply to the current record’s ID"
var numId := recordNumber(string(myId));

string(myId) converts the ID to text.

RegExp ^[A-Z]+([0-9]+)$ means

• ^[A-Z]+ → one or more letters at the start,
• ([0-9]+) → the digits we want (capture group 1),
• $ → end of the string.

extractx(..., "", "$1") returns only the captured digits.

number(...) converts that digit string to a number.