How to get next alpha-numeric ID based on existing value from MySQL

Question

First, I apologize if this has been asked before - indeed I\'m sure it has, but I can\'t find it/can\'t work out what to search for to find it.

I need to generate un

Answer 1

If you are using MyISAM, then you can create a compound primary key on a text field + auto increment field. MySQL will handle incrementing the number automatically. They are separate fields, but you can get the same effect.

CREATE TABLE example (
company_name varchar(100),
key_prefix char(4) not null,
key_increment int unsigned auto_increment,
primary key co_key (key_prefix,key_increment)
) ENGINE=MYISAM;

When you do an insert into the table, the key_increment field will increment based on the highest value based on key_prefix. So insert with key_prefix "smit" will start with 1 in key_inrement, key_prefix "jone" will start with 1 in key_inrement, etc.

Pros:

• You don't have to do anything with calculating numbers.

Cons:

• You do have a key split across 2 columns.
• It doesn't work with InnoDB.