--- Alexandre Benson Smith
<iblist@...> wrote:

> >BTW, I'm sure this would help you to convert some
> SQL
> >Server developers into Firebird developers. :-)
> >Without supporting uniqueidentifier it is quite a
> bit
> >harder to port SQL Server apps to Firebird.
> >
> I disagree that the hardest part of a migration from
> MSSQL to FB will be
> the unique identifiers, what about the triggers and
> procedures ?

Re-read my statement. I didn't say it was the hardest
part. ;-) I must say that my motivation is that I
really love the concept of GUIDs for database keys.
It isn't because it'll make porting to Firebird so
much easier. But it will make it a bit easier...

> If you create a domain called uniqueidentifier as
> char(38) and a before
> insert trigger for each table will make the "same".
> Don't look so much
> work for me, you could even create an SP that walks
> the RDB$Relations
> table and create the triggers automagically, or
> generate a script as output.

Good idea except that I really want to avoid using
char(38) because of inefficiency. In fact I'm already
doing something like this (I didn't use a domain but
simply created 38-char key fields) and would like to
change that to use the native UUID type when it
becomes available. My first Firebird database is
relatively small so the conversion wasn't too bad- and
I was only concerned about bringing the database
structure across, not the data.

> I think a "native" support for UUID will be good,
> but looks like low
> priority for me, since one can have alternative
> approachs that achieve
> the same.

I'm looking at it in terms of how simple it would be
to do. Being a developer myself I don't believe this
would be a major task to implement. So, it may be low
priority but it is also low "severity."

> If native suporte will be added to FB, your idea of
> a 128 bit internal
> storage and a 38 char SQL representantion/conversion
> will be good.

Thanks for supporting the idea! Hey... I'd like to
woo as many of the SQL Server people over as possible
myself... ;-)

Cheers,
Kevin.

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