Re: GUID datatype

In article <973677392.15725.0.nnrp-08.c2de47d8_at_news.demon.co.uk>,   "Ian Carrick" <ian_at_rombus.co.uk> wrote:
> Is there an equvalent data type to 'uniqueidentifier' found in SQL
 Server 7
> for Oracle 8i? It's basically a GUID to identify a row. The only
 things
> that look like they are the same in Oracle 8i are ROWID and UROWID
 data
> types.

I am in the same predicament here and after doing some research it appears that the answer is 'no'. There are several angles here but the real showstopper is the precision: SQL Server's GUIDs are 128 bits and Oracle can only do 127 bits in Number(38). Ack! An easy alternative (when migrating from SQL Server to Oracle) is to store the GUID as a string in Oracle but then the performance of the queries degrades. A somewhat sensible approach I am going to try is to split the GUID(with the help of the application) into two parts and then store each half in a separate field. Both fields are numeric and would allow the queries to proceed at roughly the same pace as if querying on GUID in SQL Server.

If anyone knows of a better way to handle this dilemma, please email or post.

Alex Smith
asmith42_at_hotmail.com
Insight LLC

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Before you buy. Received on Thu Nov 30 2000 - 00:07:56 CST