Auto increment catalog or other numbers?

[cjconroy]

On the data entry screen, we used to have the option to auto-increment something like the catalog integer. Was this removed due to some good arguments? Or some database mechanics?

[dustymc]

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VbNC3k17WAHMum_qD5UYoXxUUWwXXh5gZSM5vfGvRzU/edit#gid=800227536&range=7:7

[cjconroy]

So, this is a decision for a collection? But also, we don't always catalog in order. Having it pick the next unused number would not work.

[dustymc]

I don't know how to address this. I can only know what catalog numbers you've used at the point of loading, any number of things could happen at any time before that, I think any attempts to predict or understand any of them is just going to be a confusing failure. Am I not understanding something??

catalog in order

I think this probably means 'in some order that makes sense to a particular human in a particular situation' and does not seem like something accessible to code.