In response to Jasen Betts <jasen@xxxxxxxxxx>: > On 2009-04-30, Craig Ringer <craig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > Hi > > > > This must be a fairly common requirement, but either I don't know how to > > ask Google about it or there's not as much out there as I would've expected. > > > > I'm looking for a way to map the output from a monotonically increasing > > sequence (not necessarily gapless - ie a normal Pg SEQUENCE) into a > > fairly random different value in the availible space with a 1:1 > > input->output relationship. In other words, for the input "27" the > > output will always be the same (say 32 bit) number, and no other input > > will produce that output. > > so you want > > DEFAULT magic_func( nextval('foo_id_seq'::regclass) ) > > where magic_func is the 1:1 mapping and foo_id_seq is the sequence > that feeds it. Sounds like you're reinventing message digests ... > > If I find something good and there aren't any existing Pl/PgSQL > > implementations I'll post one for others' use, since I'm pretty sure it > > must come up a lot. You don't want your database to send out "invoice > > #1" or "customer #1" after all. Most of the systems I've seen like this do one of a few things: * Start with an arbitrary # like 1000 * Prepend the date (pretty common for invoice #s) like 20090501001 * Just start with #1 ... I mean, what's the big deal? -- Bill Moran http://www.potentialtech.com http://people.collaborativefusion.com/~wmoran/ -- Sent via pgsql-general mailing list (pgsql-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-general