This is an easier (?) alternative:
what if i had a table and i wanted two sets of numbers that are like auto_increment; how would i auto-increment numbers starting from 1 going down from where tbl2.x = 'something', and then do another one starting from 1 where tbl2.x = 'something_else'



this is the original question:

I can't even describe my problem succinctly in the subject of this thread.

Here's what I'm trying to do:
select id from db2.tbl2;
returns:
id
1
2
3
...
(this query already works properly)

select tbl2_id from db1.tbl1 where db1.tbl1.table = 'db2.tbl2';
returns:
same as above.

The problem now is that the second query returns:
tbl2_id
1
1
1
...

I filled out the column tbl2_id by:

update db1.tbl1, db2.tbl2 set db1.tbl1.tbl2_id = db2.tbl2.id where db1.tbl1.table = 'db2.tbl2';
OR
update db1.tbl1 join db2.tbl2 ON (db1.tbl1.table = 'db2.tbl2') set db1.tbl1.tbl2_id = db2.tbl2.id;

Both yield the same result.

Have any idea how to do what I want to do?

Please describe your problem more fully. Give us details.

"Auto-increment" fields are really just designed for providing primary-key values... when you need for a row to have a primary key but you really don't care what the value is. (That is to say, "only the computer cares what it is ... not the end-users or the business.)

If the numbers are important, use a separate table of counters ("next_invoice_number", etc...). First you acquire the next number using this table, then you increment the counter, then you use the number when inserting rows into other tables.

This won't work, try to give us this:

And then give an example of what you want your query to be. My tables are nonsense of course, we need yours


jlinkels