When I started programming SQL Server stored procedures, I also did not use the autoincrement feature. So I created a stored procedure nextvalue which returned a new ID.

Everytime I wanted to insert a record I coded EXECUTE nextvalue @NewID OUTPUT. Using a SQL statement like INSERT INTO table_x SELECT col1,col2 FROM ... was impossible.

Took me some time to correct this situation with the IDENTITY columns.

Hope you will not make the same error.

Gerry S.