Microsoft Dynamics GP Scrolling Windows and Line Sequence Numbers

I thought I would write about something meaningless that no one really thinks about. However, I realized that this is a compelling topic since it makes for some interesting discussion around the ability to insert line items withinin most transaction scrolling windows.

Let’s take some time to understand where Line Sequence Numbers come from. A Line Sequence Number is auto generated by Dynamics GP and uses a seed value of 16,384 as a basis for the first line. Each subsequent line in the scrolling window is incremented by this number, so line number 2 would have a Line Sequence Number value of 32,768, line number 3 would have Line Sequence Number Value of 49,152, and so on.

Since most GP transaction entry scrolling windows allow inserting rows in between line items, the newly inserted Line Sequence Number value is calculated as an average between the previous and the next line item sequences, i.e., if you were to insert an item in between row 1 and row 2 in the scrolling window -- keep in mind the values 16,384 and 32,768 respectively -- the Line Sequence Number would then be calculated as:

Line Sequence Number = (16,384 + 32,768)/2 = 24,576.

To visually represent this:

row1.... 16,384
row2.... 24,576 -- newly inserted row
row3.... 32,768

Now, if you were to insert a new row in between 1 and your previously inserted row 2, the new Line Sequence Number is now calculated as follows:

Line Sequence Number = (16,384 + 24,576)/2 = 20,480.

Once again, to visually represent this:

row1.... 16,384
row2.... 20,480 -- newly inserted row
row3.... 24,576 -- previously inserted row 2 is now row 3
row4.... 32,768

At this point, you may be asking, how is this nonsense even relevant? Just imagine for one instance that you attempt to insert line items at the same spot in the scrolling window, say for example at row 2, what would happen? You receive a "You cannot insert a row" error!




What happened? Let’s go back to our visual representation, this time with a real example:

ITEMNMBR                LNITMSEQ
--------                -----------
FOO1                         16,384
FO16                         16,385
FO15                         16,386
FO14                         16,388
FO13                         16,392
FO12                         16,400
FO11                         16,416
FO10                         16,448
FOO9                         16,512
FOO8                         16,640
FOO7                         16,896
FOO6                         17,408
FOO5                         18,432
FOO4                         20,480
FOO3                         24,576
FOO2                         32,768

The first time around, you will only be able to insert up to 14 rows in one location before experiencing the error mentioned previously. After the error, you will need to move one to a much more “suitable” location within the scrolling window to insert a new row, for example, row 4 (FO14) where only one item can be inserted due to the Line Sequence Number on FO15 and FO14.

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MIS, MVP, MCP, PMP
Maximum Global Business, LLC
http://www.maximumglobalbusiness.com/