Thinking back to an application I worked on called "Visibility"
they used to do this very same thing in thier submodules,
I think it even made it into their G/L (like everything else
in their application.)

It was a Powerhouse application, the following QTP Pseudocode
plugged in a stamp for some fraction of a second (I changed
the variable names to protect Visibility's copyright.)

ITEM timestampvariable FINAL someotheraccountingstuff[x:y] + ASCII(SYSTIME,8)

I'm sure the above is easily converted to some other language.
A date string was also inserted somewhere (which is easier to get.)

Odds were, unlikely that anyone would hit the same transaction
in the same fraction of a second.  Even so, the computer was
busy doing so many other things the chances were miniscule.
Besides other accounting info was in that "someotheraccountingstuff"
string.  So the it would have to be two sets of users, working
on the very same work-order, making the same type of transaction,
and pressing Enter at the same microsecond.

Otherwise, my personal opinions about Visibility are not very nice.

Tracy M. Johnson
TRW Automotive Electronics
Sensors & Components

> -----Original Message-----
> From: rollie amurao [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Friday, June 30, 2000 7:35 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] JCL to covert 12 digit dec to 8 digit base 36
>
>
> The idea of using the date/time stamp to generate a unique
> id/filename is
> great but if you are concerned about duplicates (files
> created w/in the same
>  min/second) then it might not ne kosher...
>
> My idea is to use a "unique" filename server/command that
> uses a static
> variable/counter to generate ... along the lines of this cmd file...
>
> IF BOUND(CNTR) THEN
>    SETVAR CNTR, (CNTR + 1)
> ELSE
>    SETVAR CNTR, 1
> ENDIF
> SETVAR X1, CHR(HPYEAR + 65)
> SETVAR NEWFNAME, "!X1!HPDOY" + RHT("00"+"!CNTR",3)
> ECHO !NEWFNAME
> DELETEVAR X1
>
> ****
> Converting the year to letter, (2000 as "A") ensures an alpha
> start till
> 2026...You can still figure out the create date easily
> (pseudo-julian).
> Above will create 1-999 unique filenames a day - (expandable
> to 1-9999)
>
> I hope this helps...
>
>