How to generate int/long sequence identifier without using databases?

Question

I want to generate sequence identifiers with the int/long type in C#, but I don't want to use the databases for storing the generated values, how can I do that? Would the CPU tick counter be helpful? Or do you have any other ideas?

Do you need this to be persistent? – Oded May 09 '11 at 06:06 — Oded, May 09 '11 at 06:06
Do you need a monotonically increasing counter? – Gabe May 09 '11 at 06:09 — Gabe, May 09 '11 at 06:09

Akram Shahda · Answer 1 · 2011-05-09T06:17:07.423

0

Try this:

using Microsoft.Win32;


RegistryKey key = 
   Registry.LocalMachine.CreateSubKey ("The Right Value");

private void InitializeTheKey()
{

    this.MaxIndex = 0; // Or any other value ..

}


public Int32 MaxIndex 
{ 
   get{ return  key.GetValue("MaxIndex"); }
   set{  key.SetValue ("MaxIndex", value); } 
}

public Int32 GetNewIndex()
{

    this.MaxIndex += 1;
    return this.MaxIndex;

}

WARNING: DO NOT PLAY WITH THE REGISTRY. If you do not know what you are doing, you can cause any number of costly problems. Use this code at your own risk.

edited May 09 '11 at 06:17

answered May 09 '11 at 06:04

Akram Shahda

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And it will reset when the application restarts. – Oded May 09 '11 at 06:07
I would save the MaxIndex in whatever file is going to store all those indexes. – Juan May 09 '11 at 06:26

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:34

0

As long as Int32 is okay, just use rand:

Random rand = new Random();
int newID = rand.Next(0, Int32.MaxValue);

Or for Int64, someone has posted an extension method you could use here: Generate random values in C#

edited May 23 '17 at 10:34

Community

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1

answered May 09 '11 at 06:52

William Mioch

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How to generate int/long sequence identifier without using databases?

2 Answers2