Universal SQL construct to retrieve the last row inserted - sql

What would be the correct universal SQL construct to get the last row inserted (or it's primary key). The ID might be autogenerated by a sequence but I do not want to deal with the sequence at all! I need to get the ID by querying the table. Alternatively, INSERT might be somehow extended to return the ID. Assume I am always inserting a single row. The solution should work with most RDBMS!

the best way is to depend on the sequence like:
select Max(ID) from tableName
but If you don't want to deal with it, you can add new timestamp column to your table and then select max from that column.
like this way
select Max(TimestampField) from tableName

Related

SQL Insert Row In-between Two Rows

How do I insert a row between here?
Data is not intended to be stored SQL tables in any particular order, so it's not appropriate to insert a row at a particular position. You use an SQL SELECT query to extract the data you want and ORDER BY to specify how it is sorted. If you really want to have this row in a particular position, add an ID column as the primary key and number the ID column values in the sequence that you want. Whatever you are using to view your rows will order them by the ID column by default. However, you're going to experience this same problem every time you want to add a new row as SQL tables are not intended to be used in this way.

query - select data by first inserted [duplicate]

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Closed 10 years ago.
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select bottom rows in natural order
People imagine that i have this table :
persons
columns of the table are NAME and ID
and i insert this
insert into persons values ('name','id');
insert into persons values ('John','1');
insert into persons values ('Jack','3');
insert into persons values ('Alice','2');
How can i select this information order by the insertion? My query would like :
NAME ID
name id
John 1
Jack 3
Alice 2
Without indexs (autoincrements), it's possible?
I'm pretty sure its not. From my knowldege sql data order is not sequetional with respect to insertion. The only idea I have is along with each insertion have a timestamp and sort by that time stamp
This is not possible without adding a column or table containing a timestamp. You could add a timestamp column or create another table containing IDs and a timestamp and insert in to that at the same time.
You cannot have any assumptions about how the DBMS will store data and retrieve them without specifying order by clause. I.e. PostgreSQL uses MVCC and if you update any row, physically a new copy of a row will be created at the end of a table datafile. Using a plain select causes pg to use sequence scan scenario - it means that the last updated row will be returned as the last one.
I have to agree with the other answers, Without a specific field/column todo this... well its a unreliable way... While i have not actually ever had a table without an index before i think..
you will need something to index it by, You can go with many other approaches and methods... For example, you use some form of concat/join of strings and then split/separate the query results later.
--EDIT--
For what reason do you wish not to use these methods? time/autoinc
Without storing some sort of order information during insert, the database does not automatically keep track of every record ever inserted and their order (this is probably a good thing ;) ). Autoincrement cannot be avoided... even with timestamp, they can hold same value.

How to get the primary key of last updated record in MYSQL?

We know if the primary key is autocrement, SELECT statement could return what I need.
What about UPDATE?
Using last_insert_id is thread safe?
I don't think last_insert_id will help you. Your best bet is to make a select statement that is the same as your update, and parse the results.
Using last_insert_id is thread safe?
It's connection-safe, which is probably what you mean. From the docs:
The ID that was generated is
maintained in the server on a
per-connection basis. This means that
the value returned by the function to
a given client is the first
AUTO_INCREMENT value generated for
most recent statement affecting an
AUTO_INCREMENT column by that client.
This value cannot be affected by other
clients, even if they generate
AUTO_INCREMENT values of their own.
This behavior ensures that each client
can retrieve its own ID without
concern for the activity of other
clients, and without the need for
locks or transactions.
(Their emphasis.)
For this you create a new table actiontrack and if update query is run then insert a new record in this table
and then fetch a record in this action table using action id desc
or
take a timestamp field in the table and if update query is run then also update the timestamp field
then fetch the latest new timestamp field
You cannot achieve that unless you have a MODIFIED_DATE sort of column that you revisit in every update of the record to keep track of your last modification date in order to order on that.
first thing you have to do two operations in order to achieve this.
Best solution I can think as of now,
a) select PK from table with same where condition which you are going to update.
b) update records with PK returned.
All other solution may fail at some point.
last_insert_id() does not return the id of the recently updated row, it only returns the id of the last inserted row
With that your option would be to select it first and if it doesnt exist insert it and you can use last_insert_id() , if it exists update it using the id returned from your first select

How to only insert unique data into an access database

I have an access database that I need to update only if my information is unique. Is there a simple sql statement to accomplish this? Will 'insert ignore' work with access?
Example: I have the info stored in an array ('bob','34','hair'). If my database contains a record that matches on those three columns I would not want it to be inserted. If it was found to be unique I would like it to be inserted.
I am writing this in cold fusion but just cant seem to get the sql right.
Before doing an insert, do a select for those values. If you don't get a record back then you know it is safe to insert. Just use two separate queries, one for the check, and if no record found, then the insert.
A unique index is always a good idea if a field or set of fields should be unique. If you have a unique index in Access on the three fields, an insert will fail.
It is possible is to create a single query that only inserts a record where a matched record is not found, for example:
INSERT INTO Shows (ForeName,Reviews,Musical)
SELECT "bob" As ForeName,"34" As Reviews,"hair" As Musical
FROM (SELECT Count(*) As ExistsCount
FROM Shows
WHERE ForeName = "bob",Reviews = "34",Musical = "hair") AS e
WHERE e.ExistsCount=0

How are these tasks done in SQL?

I have a table, and there is no column which stores a field of when the record/row was added. How can I get the latest entry into this table? There would be two cases in this:
Loop through entire table and get the largest ID, if a numeric ID is being used as the identifier. But this would be very inefficient for a large table.
If a random string is being used as the identifier (which is probably very, very bad practise), then this would require more thinking (I personally have no idea other than my first point above).
If I have one field in each row of my table which is numeric, and I want to add it up to get a total (so row 1 has a field which is 3, row 2 has a field which is 7, I want to add all these up and return the total), how would this be done?
Thanks
1) If the id is incremental, "select max(id) as latest from mytable". If a random string was used, there should still be an incremental numeric primary key in addition. Add it. There is no reason not to have one, and databases are optimized to use such a primary key for relations.
2) "select sum(mynumfield) as total from mytable"
for the last thing use a SUM()
SELECT SUM(OrderPrice) AS OrderTotal FROM Orders
assuming they are all in the same column.
Your first question is a bit unclear, but if you want to know when a row was inserted (or updated), then the only way is to record the time when the insert/update occurs. Typically, you use a DEFAULT constraint for inserts and a trigger for updates.
If you want to know the maximum value (which may not necessarily be the last inserted row) then use MAX, as others have said:
SELECT MAX(SomeColumn) FROM dbo.SomeTable
If the column is indexed, MSSQL does not need to read the whole table to answer this query.
For the second question, just do this:
SELECT SUM(SomeColumn) FROM dbo.SomeTable
You might want to look into some SQL books and tutorials to pick up the basic syntax.