Hye Jeff,

You are right when you say that : PostgreSQL has no notion of "autoincrement"

However, since :
- we are talking of pgsql-odbc (and not PostgreSQL);
- ODBC is an abstract layer that is supposed to uniformize backends access and isolate its users from the backends "technical details";
- the sequenced serial fields mechanism is a "technical detail" that offers an "autoincrement behavior";

Don't you think, therefore, that even though PostgreSQL has no notion of "autoincrement", it is the pgsql-odbc's responsability to "hide" and manage this particular technical detail ?

Technically speaking, don't you think that pgsql-odbc could in fact query PostgreSQL's catalog to check whether a serial field has its DEFAULT set with a 'nextval' and return, in such case, to ODBC user that it IS an autoincrement field ?

Best regards



--- "Jeff Eckermann" <jeff_eckermann@yahoo.com> wrote:

From: "Jeff Eckermann" <jeff_eckermann@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 22 Aug 2005 13:54:03 +0930
To: pgsql-odbc@postgresql.org
Subject: Re: [ODBC] Unexpected ADO properties

"Bernard Henry Voynet" <bhv@quebecemail.com> wrote in message
news:20050820115339.D2B57834@dm21.mta.everyone.net ...
> Hello
> I am working on a project that access databases through ADO
> over ODBC and must now include PostgreSQL.
>
> The code of this project needs to know about the fields
> caracteristics like whether or not it is:
> - a primary key
> - an autoincrement key
> - nullabble
> - updatable
> - etc..
>
> For this I use the ADO properties that give theses
> informations.
>
> For a Jet database I get (for example):
> serialkey
> Type = adInteger
> DefinedSize = 4
> Precision = 10
> NumericScale = 255
> Status = adRecOK
> Attributes = adFldFixed
> Properties (9)
> BASECATALOGNAME (adVarWChar) = (Null)
> BASECOLUMNNAME (adVarWChar) = serialkey
> BASESCHEMANAME (adVarWChar) = (Null)
> BASETABLENAME (adVarWChar) = genericfields
> CALCULATIONINFO (adVarBinary) = (Null)
> ISAUTOINCREMENT (adBoolean) = True
> KEYCOLUMN (adBoolean) = True
> OPTIMIZE (adBoolean) = False
> RELATIONCONDITIONS (adVarBinary) = (Null)
>
> However, with PostgreSQL 8.0.3 (psqlodc 08.00.0102), I don't get what
> is expected.
>
> When I declare le serialkey field as as SERIAL PRIMARY KEY, instead of the
> expected result, I get:
> serialkey
> Type = adInteger
> DefinedSize = 4
> Precision = 10
> NumericScale = 255
> Status = adRecOK
> Attributes = adFldUnknownUpdatable, adFldFixed, adFldIsNullable,
> adFldMayBeNull
> Properties (9)
> BASECATALOGNAME (adVarWChar) = (Null)
> BASECOLUMNNAME (adVarWChar) = serialkey
> BASESCHEMANAME (adVarWChar) = (Null)
> BASETABLENAME (adVarWChar) = genericfields
> CALCULATIONINFO (adVarBinary) = (Null)
> ISAUTOINCREMENT (adBoolean) = False
> KEYCOLUMN (adBoolean) = True
> OPTIMIZE (adBoolean) = False
> RELATIONCONDITIONS (adVarBinary) = (Null)
>
> Where both:
> - Attributes
> - ISAUTOINCREMENT
> Are not correct since serialkey is a non nullable serial key

PostgreSQL has no notion of "autoincrement". The "serial" type is an
equivalent implementation, but is not actually a type in itself; it is an
integer type with a default value drawn from a sequence.

The values reported in the "attributes" are certainly wrong; this is
definitely a bug somewhere, but where, I don't know enough to say. Perhaps
someone more knowledgeable can help.

>
> Would you have any idea on this problem ?
> And any help to get the right values ?
>
> Best regards
>
>
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