Jo,

There is no way to ensure uniqueness of custom field value now, sorry.

Hi

I have created a nickname field in my WA db - how can I ensure this will be like the member ID in so much as every members nickname will be unique.

Is there a particular field name I need to use?

Thanks
Jo

yes, ignore memberif for import, it will be added automatically.

userid - yes you can add as custom field.

ok - I think I see the difference -

member id - system record number - auto generated
. . . so is there any reason for the user to ever see this or know about this?

user id - selected by user, as long as it is unique
. . . can be used in place of email for signing in, so that more than one person can sign in with the same email address

QUESTION, as I will be loading a new database in as soon as friendly url's are available -
when I set up the database fields for upload, do I ignire the member id? does it just generate itself as it creates each record? (And go ahead and load the user ids as a custom field for future use?)

I think you are talking about ad-hoc username/userid and this is different from a numeric auto-assigned memberID.

Isn't there another active thread on this topic?

Can't find it right quick, but seems to me the discussion on the other thread was that a system generated "member id" might be better called a "record number" and let the member ID be things that make sense to the organization - or that might already be in place in existing systems

For example, my "member id" in our existing system is "gypse" - it can not be duplicated within the system - has to be unique for that field - but is "user friendly"

Hello!

Could you elaborate what is actual reason to have a well controlled Member ID?

Are you going to use it for some member grouping?

Or may be to get an idea who has registered earlier or later?

Thank you.

We understand your point and we will consider it for future enhancements.

I understand that it is system generated and not editable, and that makes sense. What I don't like is that there is not a logical starting point or sequence (from my organization's standpoint). I have been testing and providing demos to our BOD and the most recent member ID numbers was 368928. They aren't even consecutive for our organization. I would like a member ID field that provides consecutive numbers for our members and allows the admin to choose a starting point. So that our member ID numbers could start with 500 (for example) and run through 750. We want to actually use the member ID field for our organization, and using the current member ID would be confusing.

Unfortunately it is not possible to designate a starting number for "member ID" field. "member ID" is a system field and it is generated automatically by the system.

Our organization has its own membership numbers assigned to each member. Some of our contacts are old members who haven't renewed their membership, but retain their membership number, in case they renew in the future. We would like the website to look up returning (lapsed) members and bring in their data, including the membership number, and if they are not in the database, to assign a new, incrementing number beginning with the highest existing membership number. This would save looking up old numbers in an Excel spreadsheet to avoid duplication, or new assignment of membership numbers to people who already have a number. Thanks,David A. Coats