serial data type

[Tom Allison]

Can I use the serial data type in lieu of an 'auto_number' field?

I asked something like this some months ago and it seems that
auto_number fields were addressed through a combination of triggers and
procedures to ensure that there were do duplicate KEYS generated.

Is it realistic to use the serial data type as a KEY?

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[Doug McNaught]

Tom Allison <ta******@tacocat.net> writes:

Can I use the serial data type in lieu of an 'auto_number' field?
What are the exact semantics of an "auto_number" field?
I asked something like this some months ago and it seems that
auto_number fields were addressed through a combination of triggers
and procedures to ensure that there were do duplicate KEYS generated.

Is it realistic to use the serial data type as a KEY?

Lots and lots of people do. If you're just looking for a unique key
column for a single table, it works fine.

-Doug
--
Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees.
--T. J. Jackson, 1863

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[Tom Allison]

Doug McNaught wrote:

Is it realistic to use the serial data type as a KEY?

Lots and lots of people do. If you're just looking for a unique key
column for a single table, it works fine.

-Doug

This is essentially what I'm looking for.

Any idea how to set up a timestamp=now on every insert/update ?

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[Doug McNaught]

Tom Allison <ta******@tacocat.net> writes:

Doug McNaught wrote:

Is it realistic to use the serial data type as a KEY?

Lots and lots of people do. If you're just looking for a unique key
column for a single table, it works fine.
-Doug

This is essentially what I'm looking for.

Any idea how to set up a timestamp=now on every insert/update ?

Use a trigger.

-Doug
--
Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees.
--T. J. Jackson, 1863

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[Joseph Healy]

On Sat, Sep 25, 2004 at 07:20:23PM -0400, Tom Allison wrote:

Any idea how to set up a timestamp=now on every insert/update ?

when you create your table, use:

create table mytable (
id serial primary key,
updated timestamp default(now()),
mydata int4
);

Joe
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[Doug McNaught]

Joseph Healy <jo*******@dodo.com.au> writes:

On Sat, Sep 25, 2004 at 07:20:23PM -0400, Tom Allison wrote:

Any idea how to set up a timestamp=now on every insert/update ?

when you create your table, use:

create table mytable (
id serial primary key,
updated timestamp default(now()),
mydata int4
);

That won't change the timestamp on UPDATE queries; you need a trigger
for that.

-Doug
--
Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees.
--T. J. Jackson, 1863

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[Tom Allison]

Doug McNaught wrote:

Joseph Healy <jo*******@dodo.com.au> writes:

On Sat, Sep 25, 2004 at 07:20:23PM -0400, Tom Allison wrote:

Any idea how to set up a timestamp=now on every insert/update ?

when you create your table, use:

create table mytable (
id serial primary key,
updated timestamp default(now()),
mydata int4
);

That won't change the timestamp on UPDATE queries; you need a trigger
for that.

Thanks!
Understood.

I'll get to that tomorrow. Right now I'm working on data types and
tables....

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