How can I avoid getting this MySQL error Incorrect column specifier for column COLUMN NAME?

Question

How can I avoid getting this MySQL error Incorrect column specifier for column topic_id ?

MySQL Error...

#1063 - Incorrect column specifier for column 'topic_id'

SQL Schema...

CREATE TABLE discussion_topics (
    topic_id char(36) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
    project_id char(36) NOT NULL,
    topic_subject VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
    topic_content TEXT default NULL,
    date_created DATETIME NOT NULL,
    date_last_post DATETIME NOT NULL,
    created_by_user_id char(36) NOT NULL,
    last_post_user_id char(36) NOT NULL,
    posts_count char(36) default NULL,
    PRIMARY KEY (topic_id)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8 AUTO_INCREMENT=1;

Answer 1

To use AUTO_INCREMENT you need to deifne column as INT or floating-point types, not CHAR.

AUTO_INCREMENT use only unsigned value, so it's good to use UNSIGNED as well;

CREATE TABLE discussion_topics (

     topic_id INT NOT NULL unsigned AUTO_INCREMENT,
     project_id char(36) NOT NULL,
     topic_subject VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
     topic_content TEXT default NULL,
     date_created DATETIME NOT NULL,
     date_last_post DATETIME NOT NULL,
     created_by_user_id char(36) NOT NULL,
     last_post_user_id char(36) NOT NULL,
     posts_count char(36) default NULL,
     PRIMARY KEY (topic_id) 
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8 AUTO_INCREMENT=1;