--- In firebird-support@yahoogroups.com, "PenWin" <penwin@...> wrote:

>
> Anyway, I started using this code. It seems to perform well enough

for my

> needs:
>
> SELECT FIRST 1 t.fields
> FROM table t
> WHERE conditions
> ORDER BY (t.key + seed)*4294967291-((t.key +

seed)*4294967291/49157)*49157

I don't see how unless you have a LOT of fields ;)

You seem confused over the ORDER BY clause. It needs either a field
name or an ordinal number referring to the column in the select you
want to order on (where 1 is the first column).

According to your above query, Firebird would raise an exception if
that big expression down the bottom returned anything other than 1.

I think you may mean something like.

SELECT FIRST 1 t.fields
FROM table t
WHERE conditions
AND t.Key >= seed*4294967291-(seed*4294967291/49157)*49157
order by t.fields

... and be careful about integer divisions in SQL. It probably isn't
returning the number you expect. Either cast as some form of numeric
or add a .0 to the numerator or denominator.

Adam