And as the original poster said, he must, now, include "&" in some cases.
That could be misinterpreted as a type-declaration character in a numeric
field.
Clive
"Bob Quintal" <bquintal@generation.net> wrote in message
news:827a78aa5e400e3dbdfd5003548f0d55@news.teranew s.com...[color=blue]
> Ima Lostsoul <me@myprovider.com> wrote in
> news:MPG.1ae6a531fcce99fc9896e5@netnews.comcast.ne t:
>[color=green]
> > In article
> > <ta3fc.6761$zj3.5807@newsread3.news.atl.earthlink. net>,
> >
spam@nospam.spam says...[color=darkred]
> >> Social Security Numbers are not numbers even though they say
> >> they are. They are text because they can start with 0, start
> >> with & and US SSNs have two dashes. So you need to go to your
> >> table and change the data type of your SSN field to text.
> >> All your problems will go away!
> >>
> >> --
> >> PC Datasheet
> >> Your Resource For Help With Access, Excel And Word
> >> Applications
> >>
resource@pcdatasheet.com
> >>
www.pcdatasheet.com
> >>
> >>
> >> <Sami> wrote in message
> >> news:4q8p70peaa2tvkva56sm9ovnbuqfibq080@4ax.com...
> >> > Problem:
> >> >
> >> > Social Security number being used in a database. First
> >> > problem is that it will not permit numbers beginning in
> >> > zero to be entered - it sees it as a null or empty space
> >> > from what I can tell.
> >> >
> >> > Next, foreign students have & as the initial part of their
> >> > SSN. How to do this??
> >> >
> >> > Finally, how do I force the cursor to the far left of the
> >> > field so the person doing data entry does not have to
> >> > backspace to the beginning of the data entry field?
> >> >
> >> > Please be specific - not a sophisticated person making the
> >> > program!
> >> >
> >> > Thanks.
> >>
> >>
> >>[/color]
> >
> >
> > ARGH That is horrid! A number is not text simply bcasue it
> > starts with a zero...[/color]
>
>
> Good grief! a text is not a number just because it contains only
> digits. I remember learning, oh about thirty years ago, that you
> should us a numeric field if you are going to add, subtract,
> multiply or divide the contents thereof, else use type text.
>
> A numeric field may also be used as a key, but you can do it with
> text fields as well.
>
>
> There is no guarantee that future SSNs will contain only the
> characters 0 through 9.
>
>
> That is (IMHO) very poor programming.[color=green]
> > You are mixing the storage of a value with the display there
> > of. Look in the formatting of the controls you use to
> > input/display the SSN and you will see how to handle SSNs that
> > begin with one or more 0s without bastardizing your data.[/color]
>[/color]
