SQL Table Locking - sql

Question

I have an SQL Server locking question regarding an application we have in house. The application takes submissions of data and persists them into an SQL Server table. Each submission is also assigned a special catalog number (unrelated to the identity field in the table) which is a sequential alpha numeric number. These numbers are pulled from another table and are not generated at run time. So the steps are
Insert Data into Submission Table
Grab next Unassigned Catalog
Number from Catalog Table
Assign the Catalog Number to the
Submission in the Submission table
All these steps happen sequentially in the same stored procedure.
Its, rate but sometimes we manage to get two submission at the same second and they both get assigned the same Catalog Number which causes a localized version of the Apocalypse in our company for a small while.
What can we do to limit the over assignment of the catalog numbers?

Answer 1

When getting your next catalog number, use row locking to protect the time between you finding it and marking it as in use, e.g.:
set transaction isolation level REPEATABLE READ
begin transaction
select top 1 #catalog_number = catalog_number
from catalog_numbers with (updlock,rowlock)
where assigned = 0
update catalog_numbers set assigned = 1 where catalog_number = :catalog_number
commit transaction

Answer 2

You could use an identity field to produce the catalog numbers, that way you can safely create and get the number:
insert into Catalog () values ()
set #CatalogNumber = scope_identity()
The scope_identity function will return the id of the last record created in the same session, so separate sessions can create records at the same time and still end up with the correct id.
If you can't use an identity field to create the catalog numbers, you have to use a transaction to make sure that you can determine the next number and create it without another session accessing the table.

Answer 3

I like araqnid's response. You could also use an insert trigger on the submission table to accomplish this. The trigger would be in the scope of the insert, and you would effectively embed the logic to assign the catalog_number in the trigger. Just wanted to put your options up here.

Answer 4

Here's the easy solution. No race condition. No blocking from a restrictive transaction isolation level. Probably won't work in SQL dialects other than T-SQL, though.
I assume their is some outside force at work to keep your catalog number table populated with unassigned catalog numbers.
This technique should work for you: just do the same sort of "interlocked update" that retrieves a value, something like:
update top 1 CatalogNumber
set in_use = 1 ,
#newCatalogNumber = catalog_number
from CatalogNumber
where in_use = 0
Anyway, the following stored procedure just just ticks up a number on each execution and hands back the previous one. If you want fancier value, add a computed column that applies the transform of choice to the incrementing value to get the desired value.
drop table dbo.PrimaryKeyGenerator
go
create table dbo.PrimaryKeyGenerator
(
id varchar(100) not null ,
current_value int not null default(1) ,
constraint PrimaryKeyGenerator_PK primary key clustered ( id ) ,
)
go
drop procedure dbo.GetNewPrimaryKey
go
create procedure dbo.GetNewPrimaryKey
#name varchar(100)
as
set nocount on
set ansi_nulls on
set concat_null_yields_null on
set xact_abort on
declare
#uniqueValue int
--
-- put the supplied key in canonical form
--
set #name = ltrim(rtrim(lower(#name)))
--
-- if the name isn't already defined in the table, define it.
--
insert dbo.PrimaryKeyGenerator ( id )
select id = #name
where not exists ( select *
from dbo.PrimaryKeyGenerator pkg
where pkg.id = #name
)
--
-- now, an interlocked update to get the current value and increment the table
--
update PrimaryKeyGenerator
set #uniqueValue = current_value ,
current_value = current_value + 1
where id = #name
--
-- return the new unique value to the caller
--
return #uniqueValue
go
To use it:
declare #pk int
exec #pk = dbo.GetNewPrimaryKey 'foobar'
select #pk
Trivial to mod it to return a result set or return the value via an OUTPUT parameter.