Hi,
I have a question about sequences. I need a field to have values
with no holes in the sequence. However, the values do not need to be in
order.

My users will draw a number or numbers from the sequence and write to
the field. Sometimes, however, these sequence numbers will be discarded
(after a transaction is complete), and thus available for use. During
the transaction, however, any drawn numbers need to be unavailable.
I would like the next user who draws a number to draw the lowest number
she can, starting with the holes in the sequence.

This continuous sequence is absolutely required by our company, as the
fact that the sequence has no holes is used to check for much more
serious problems.

So my question is:
what's the most effective way to get the next available number?

My present method is to do a query that finds the first and last number
in each of the holes, step through those holes, and then start
generating new numbers. Unfortunately, this involves doing a table scan
each time - before I generate the number, and does not produce the
transaction-safety I want.

Does anyone have any better ideas? Places I should look?

Thanks,

Eric

Far from being a perfect idea but a faster solution than stepping through
all holes:

1) Create a second table containing only one field of type of your key.
2) When you delete an entry place the delete key value in your second table
3) If you insert a new entry into your old table and your new table contains
a value, take the minimum value in the new table as your new key and delete
that entry from the new table. If the new table is empty just use the
sequence to get the new key value.

Hope that helps
David Ecker

Eric E wrote: