How to find NEWLY inserted Data

[rasprer]

I have a huge problem. I need to find a way to retrieve 'Newly' created records from the table. The table DOES NOT have any datetime fields I can reference nor do I have a field that is defined as an identity column.

Is there anyway that I can retrieve these new records..Say..I write a program to find all the records in the table at 2m. Then I stop the program, and run it again at 3m. Now I need all the data from 2m - 3m.

Note...I cannot create any fields in the database nor any table.

Please assist...

 

[eramgarden]

can u use "select top 10 * from <table> where ..."...

Or "top <whatever rows u want> * from <table> where.."

Or, can u you relate this table to another table that has datetime or identity?

 

[SemperFiDownUnda]

Selecft Top ...

will not give you the latest records in most cases.
The only case where it will is where there is a key that gives indication of the cronilogical order of records is available.

This could be an indentity field, DateTime that is defaulted to (GETDATE()) or a TIMESTAMP column.

Basically the table has to be designed to have some column that holds that information. If it doesn't you can't be assured the order.

With a heap you can't guarentee that the last records are the most recently added unless you never delete records. With tables that are in a clustered index there is no hope unless agian you have the data from above.



Hope I've been helpful,
Wayne Francis

If you want to get the best response to a question, please check out FAQ222-2244 first

 

[TysonLPrice]

I've never tried this but it's just a thought. Would the transaction log have what you need?

 

[MartinCroft]

One possible solution would be at the 2pm point add
an identity column into the table

E.G

ALTER TABLE [tablename]
ADD [NewColumnName] int IDENTITY(1,1)

This will give all the columns a number starting at 1 upwards the next row inserted into the table will get an incrementle number all you need to do is find the max(NewColumnName) at each point 2pm , 3pm etc then you can select data between points using that column

obviosuly i recommend you test this first to see if it would work for you, I dont know how datas imported into the table and an extra column might effect this process.