Auto Increment Question

Is there a way to query what the next auto_increment number will be?

are you talkin like..
for($i=0; $i<100; $i+=2)
??.. you musn't be.. hmm too simple.

No, I was vague in my question. In MySql. I need to know what the next auto_incement number will increment to. I am going to move this to database help

select LAST_INSERT_ID();

and then add 1.

I don't know of a definate way to get the next ID. Even if you could, you would run into problems because you couldn't place a lock on it. Who's to say that between the time you get it and the time you use it, it hasn't been used already?

That being said is there a special reason you need it before hand? Would getting it after an insert work?

Another possibility is to use the PEAR DB class, it allows you to create sequences and find out the next sequence before using it....

http://pear.php.net/

I just thought it would be nice to display the invoice# at the as they were taking the order on the phone. I also wanted to use the number within a app that has the id+an incrementing run number at date for tracking of production runs

I would insert a dummy record, then update that record with the information from the order. That way, you get a lock on the invoice number and you know it isn't going to change.....