How to make primary key alphanumeric !

[gokeeffe]

Hi

Want I want to do is create a table with a primary key that
will increment numbers with a letter code before it.

For example FG01
FG02
FG03

Is it possible to do this with mysql, I undertand that the primary key value is usually a integer so it might not be possible to do this.But I have seen it done on other sites so it must be possible.

Could anyone help.

Tks
Graham

 

[TonyGroves]

You can have any type of code as your primary key, it doesn't have to be an integer. Then when you're inserting a record, you would specify a value for the primary key field along with the rest of the fields. However, if you want to use an auto-incremented field (as the primary key or anything else), then that field must be an integer.

Beir bua.

 

[r937]

the primary key can certainly be of that style but you will have to increment it yourself

if you want to use an auto_increment, you can achieve a similar result by appending the auto_increment value to a constant every time you want to display the key, but this is not recommended, and you should not need to display your key in the first place


rudy | r937.com | Ask the Expert | Premium SQL Articles
SQL for Database-Driven Web Sites (next course starts March 6 2005)