Re: [Info-ingres] Re: is there an equivavlent to auto_increment in ingres ?

I thought I'd jump in here and add in a scenarios where <sharp intake of
breath> I don't have a problem with artificial keys.

For example, a queue processor where jobs are added to a queue and users can
view the queue to see the progress of their job. Of course, we could
timestamp the job and locate it with the userid and timestamp and maybe the
jobname, but users would find it infinitely more convenient to refer to job
456 on the queue and be able to say that job 456 appears to have a problem,
rather than saying the job I submitted at 10 O'clock needs to be rushed
through. it's far more convenient to key the job queue on the job number and
have the system increment the jobnumber as jobs are submitted.

So, this is a case where I'd use an artificial key that's exposed to the
user.

I've no doubt I could think of more scenarios, but that's at least one to
chew over.

Paul


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