reading sequence.CURRVAL

From: Bill Dietrich <bill_dietrich_at_wayfarer.com>
Date: Thu, 23 Apr 1998 12:43:31 -0700
Message-ID: <353F99E3.8CBA4271@wayfarer.com>

I'm using Oracle 7.3..3, and I want my app to check every now and then to see if new records have been added to a table (without using triggers).

What I'd like to do is just read sequence.CURRVAL, where this is a sequence that generates record IDs for the table. If CURRVAL has
increased since the last time I read it, I know there are new records, and what range their IDs are in.

But the documentation says "Note that before you use CURRVAL for a sequence in your session, you must first initialize the sequence with NEXTVAL." And it is true; I've tested it.

This means that I can't just read CURRVAL; first I have to reference NEXTVAL, which increments the value ! I don't want to do this.

Is there any other way to read CURRVAL without changing its value ?

I can't believe sequences have this behavior !

Bill Dietrich
bill_dietrich_at_wayfarer.com Received on Thu Apr 23 1998 - 14:43:31 CDT