Sorry guys, but I don't agree on the first point. An Integer or Number as primary will always win the time race compared to a varchar, specially if there's a group or order clause included. I do agree about the flexibility (that also comes with other complexities), but the performance issue is unfortunately not that simple. Of course, it's also a matter of how big your database is. The bigger the worse.
Regards, Sven 2009/2/17 Jacques Le Roux <[email protected]> > 2d or 3d time this question is asked : time for a FAQ > > http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBIZ/FAQ+-+Tips+-+Tricks+-+Cookbook+-+HowTo#FAQ-Tips-Tricks-Cookbook-HowTo-WhyprimarykeysareVARCHARtypeinOFBiz > > Thanks David > > Jacques > > From: "David E Jones" <[email protected]> > > >> 1. The performance overhead is minimal on modern database systems. >> 2. Character strings give significant flexibility, especially when it is >> common to migrate data from other systems that have >> characters in their IDs. >> 3. Being able to prefix IDs is used in a number of places in OFBiz, >> including prefixes for entire systems when data transfers >> between them are done to separate ID spaces. >> >> Welcome to the real world! ;) >> >> -David >> >> >> On Feb 17, 2009, at 8:05 AM, Dhruv Datta wrote: >> >> Hello Frns, >>> >>> I am a *newbie* in OFBiz and was playing with the OFBiz. >>> >>> During my play I found that in OFBiz data type for all the primary keys >>> are VAR-CHAR, but VAR-CHAR data type is not a good practice for the >>> efficiency perspective because it takes extra time during searching. Can >>> anyone please tell me why OFBiz uses VAR-CHAR data type used for primary >>> key >>> instead of NUMERIC data type. >>> >>> Any help would be greatly appreciated. >>> >>> >>> Dhruv. >>> >> >> > >
