VB.NET: DataTable Cloning and Seeds with .NET 2

[rclarke]

Hi,

When cloning a DataTable, it appears that seed counts are also copied to the new table e.g. dtbSource has 50 rows, clone dtbSource to dtbClone and then add the first new row to dtbClone ... this new row will have an "ID" of 51 rather than 1. Setting AutoIncrementSeed on dtbClone has no effect whatsoever. In actual fact I have tried multiple variations of AutoIncrementSeed and AutoIncrementStep including:

dtbClone.Columns("ID").AutoIncrementStep = -1
dtbClone.Columns("ID").AutoIncrementSeed = -1
dtbClone.Columns("ID").AutoIncrementStep = 1
dtbClone.Columns("ID").AutoIncrementSeed = 1

... but nothing seems to have the desired effect. All I want is dtbSource to carry on from the point of cloning e.g. 51, 52 etc. and dtbClone to start from 1.

Thanks in advance for any insight,

Rod.

[Plater]

Clone claims to copy over all formatting data too right, that's what is causing the problem?
Could you get away with changing the autoincrement stuff on the source, make the clone, then turn the auto increment stuff back ON on the source?

[rclarke]

Thanks for the quick response. That certainly is an interesting approach, and not one that I had thought of. I can give it a try and get back to you.

Thanks,

Rod.

[rclarke]

Bad news ... I tried the following rough and ready code:

dtbSource.Columns("ID").AutoIncrementSeed = 1
dtbSource.AcceptChanges()
 
dtbClone = dtbSource.Clone()
 
dtbSource.Columns("ID").AutoIncrementSeed = 1000
dtbSource.AcceptChanges()

... and although dtbSource then started counting from 1000, dtbClone continued counting from the original row count of dtbSource rather than 1. Something tells me you can't wind the seed back when the Unique property is set to True, you can only send it forward.

Any other thoughts?

Thanks,

Rod.

[Plater]

Hmm, what are you going to do with the clone?
Could you maybe delete/recreate the column? That might make the counter start at one.

[demaus]

don't know if this will work but you could give it a try

 
dtClone = dtSource.Clone()
dtClone.Clear()
 

haven't tried this in code myself, I know that .Clear() will remove data and maybe it will reset the increment?.

[rclarke]

Good call Plater ... I am beginning to think that deleting and then recreating the column might be the simplest way out of this predicament. I will try that next.

Incidentally, the purpose of the Clone is to act as multi-row Cut, Copy & Paste clipboard for the Source. I'm not sure whether that changes anything, but it seems to be the most efficient approach.

Many thanks for the suggestion demaus. I omitted to mention in my first post that I had also tried the Clear method, but to no avail, but thanks anyway :-)

Rod.