Sqlite insert into with unique names, getting id

Question

I have a list of strings to insert into a db. They MUST be unique. When i insert i would like their ID (to use as a foreign key in another table) so i use last_insert_rowid. I get 2 problems.

1. If i use replace, their id (INTEGER PRIMARY KEY) updates which breaks my db (entries point to nonexistent IDs)
2. If i use ignore, rowid is not updated so i do not get the correct ID

How do i get their Ids? if i dont need to i wouldnt want to use a select statement to check and insert the string if it doesnt exist . How should i do this?

Answer 1

When a UNIQUE constraint violation occurs, the REPLACE algorithm deletes pre-existing rows that are causing the constraint violation prior to inserting or updating the current row and the command continues executing normally. This causes the rowid to change and creates the following problem

Y:> **sqlite3 test**  
SQLite version 3.7.4  
Enter ".help" for instructions  
Enter SQL statements terminated with a ";"  
sqlite> **create table b (c1 integer primary key, c2 text UNIQUE);**  
sqlite> **insert or replace into b values (null,'test-1');**  
sqlite> **select last_insert_rowid();**  
1  
sqlite> **insert or replace into b values (null,'test-2');**  
sqlite> **select last_insert_rowid();**  
2  
sqlite> **insert or replace into b values (null,'test-1');**  
sqlite> **select last_insert_rowid();**  
3  
sqlite> **select * from b;**  
2|test-2  
3|test-1  

The work around is to change the definition of the c2 column as follows

create table b (c1 integer primary key, c2 text UNIQUE ON CONFLICT IGNORE);

and to remove the "or replace" clause from your inserts;

then when test after your insert, you will need to execute the following sql: select last_insert_rowid(), changes();

sqlite> **create table b (c1 integer primary key, c2 text UNIQUE ON CONFLICT IGNORE);**  
sqlite> **insert into b values (null,'test-1');**  
sqlite> **select last_insert_rowid(), changes();**  
1|1  
sqlite> **insert into b values (null,'test-2');**  
sqlite> **select last_insert_rowid(), changes();**  
2|1  
sqlite> **insert into b values (null,'test-1');**  
sqlite> **select last_insert_rowid(), changes();**  
2|0  

The return value of changes after the 3rd insert will be a notification to your application that you will need to lookup the rowid of "test-1", since it was already on file. Of course if this is a multi-user system, you will need to wrap all this in a transaction as well.