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Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 12:32:20 -0500
From: "Ross J. Reedstrom" <reedstrm@rice.edu>
To: Beth Gatewood <beth@vizxlabs.com>
Cc: pgsql-sql@postgresql.org
Subject: Re: writing a function to mimic mysql last_insert_id
Message-ID: <20020911173220.GE8991@rice.edu>
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	Beth Gatewood <beth@vizxlabs.com>, pgsql-sql@postgresql.org
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Beth - 
Take a look at pgsql's sequences. They do pretty much exactly what
you want, here. There's even a 'pseudo type' serial that sets up
an int column with a default value coming from a sequence. 

Sequences are more loosely couple to 'auto increment' columns than
in mysql or other database systems. This is sometimes a bit of a pain
(in order to retreive the lsat value, you need to know the name of the
sequence, not just the table.column) but also more powerful: you can set
up columns in several tables that draw from one sequence, for example,
which will guarantee non-colliding values.

Ross
-- 
Ross Reedstrom, Ph.D.                                 reedstrm@rice.edu
Executive Director                                  phone: 713-348-6166
Gulf Coast Consortium for Bioinformatics              fax: 713-348-6182
Rice University MS-39
Houston, TX 77005

On Wed, Sep 11, 2002 at 10:23:35AM -0700, Beth Gatewood wrote:
> Hi all-
> 
> I am wondering if I can get some input on the logic that I would need to
> code a function that would mimic mysql's last_insert_id()..

<snip description of mysql's auto increment feature>