RE: Fastest way to get a unique identifier/tracking column changes

> -----Original Message-----
> From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx / Richard Theis
> Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2004 3:36 AM
>
> Reeve wrote:
> > I though the "IDENTITY" value was table-specific, not global.
> > Therefore, to track changes from multiple tables in one
> > "historical tracking" table, I'd need to identify each
> > tracking record by table and identity value.
>
> Check the SQL type ROWID, it is unique across all DB2 UDB for
> iSeries/zSeries .
>
> >From Information Center:
>
> A row ID is a value that uniquely identifies a row in a table. A column or
> a host variable can have a row ID data type. A ROWID column
> enables queries
> to be written that navigate directly to a row in the table. Each
> value in a
> ROWID column must be unique. The database manager maintains the values
> permanently, even across table reorganizations. When a row is
> inserted into
> the table, the database manager generates a value for the ROWID column
> unless one is supplied. If a value is supplied, it must be a valid row ID
> value that was previously generated by either DB2 UDB for OS/390 and z/OS
> or DB2 UDB for iSeries. The internal representation of a row ID value is
> transparent to the user. The value is never subject to CCSID conversion
> because it is considered to contain BIT data. The length attribute of a
> ROWID column is 40.
> Using ROWID is another way to have the system assign a unique value to a
> column in a table. ROWID is similar to identity columns, but rather than
> being an attribute of a numeric column, it is a separate data type. To
> create a table similar to the identity column example:
>
<snip>

Richard, a quick thanks for the summary of changed commands in v5r3.  (There
was some head-scratching on figuring out some of the parameter names,
though.)

In regards to ROWID, I'm not reading the documentation you pasted the same
way you are.  The very first sentence says it all: "A row ID is a value that
uniquely identifies a row in a table"; I infer that it does not mean the
entire database.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

db