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Ranges of Ids


(England)

In the company I am working for my boss refuses to believe surrogate keys shouldn't be a range of numbers for different objects.

I.e. 4000-4999 for cars, 5000-5999 for employees, 6000-6999 for projects.

He insists that it is "useful" to have the leading number the same for all objects to see quickly what the object is. The funny thing is he refuses to change his mind even though they've had to extend the range of numbers for all objects in the last year as they ran out. But it's okay, we now have "enough for 20 years". Well at least management know exactly how the company and industry will grow...

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Ranges of Ids

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Nov 25, 2009
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starstarstar 		Run numbers run
by: Anonymous

"He insists that it is "useful" to have the leading number the same for all objects to see quickly what the object is."


This is true in one way, that an object is a "car", but subject to problems when 5000+ need to be searched. Problem, none of the running numbers with the same start number, not one says anything about a specific object. What is needed is a system of numbers that id specific objects with that same start number. I did this with a security cctv system, no db, but the programming worked. Someone looking at a monitor, is able to know the specific camera, being cameras are grouped in tours, so they will also know a given tour the camera is in as well. I idea is simple if one can get their head around KISS !.

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