Showing posts with label gui. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gui. Show all posts

Friday, 17 June 2011

SQL Server: use the NewId() function to create unique identifiers

   


A few months ago, I have published an article mentioning the NewId() SQL function. In that post, I was explaining how to create dynamic keywords and description meta tags. However the NewId() function can be used in different situations and it becomes very handy, when we need unique identifiers.
Let's see how it works.

The basics
The NewId() function returns a unique identifier; that means a unique set of numbers and letters. If we use the function in a query in SQL Server Management Studio like:
print newid()
the result will be a unique identifier like:
5C6C9372-49F9-4A5C-BCFA-DA6CDB525CAB
Interestingly enough, the above result is unique and can be used in various way. For example, we can use the function to generate personal identification numbers (PINs), login passwords, ids, serial numbers or product keys, simple primary keys etc. At the same time we can use the function to create random sorting of data.