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tjyoung

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Building on creating unique 5 character strings

Hi,
Below is some code generously contributed by one of the fellows on the site. If you were to run it, it generates ( as per my settings below) 2500 unique 5 character strings.
I'm trying to adjust the code below slightly so that I can add the random strings into an already existing database table into a column for arguments sake called: access

I have an ongoing need to be able to add a column of unique strings (access codes in my case) to tables that already exist.

So in a perfect world I would simply check how many rows my table is (or perhaps the revised code could check the amount of rows), or enter the number ie: 2501 for example and it would insert the values into the column specified.

Can anyone adjust to do that? I'm struggling as a newbie to get it to work properly.

<?php // RAY_random_unique_string.php
error_reporting(E_ALL);
echo "<pre>\n";



// GENERATE A SHORT UNIQUE RANDOM STRING FOR USE AS SOME KIND OF KEY
// NOTE THAT THE DATA BASE MUST HAVE THE rand_key FIELD DEFINED AS "UNIQUE"
// NOTE THAT THE LENGTH ARGUMENT MUST MATCH THROUGHOUT
define('ARG_LENGTH', 5);



// CONNECTION AND SELECTION VARIABLES FOR THE DATABASE
$db_host = "localhost"; // PROBABLY 'localhost' IS OK
$db_user = "";
$db_word = "";
$db_name = "";

// LIVE DATABASE CREDENTIALS
//


// OPEN A CONNECTION TO THE DATA BASE SERVER
// MAN PAGE: http://us2.php.net/manual/en/function.mysql-connect.php
if (!$db_connection = mysql_connect("$db_host", "$db_user", "$db_word"))
{
    $errmsg = mysql_errno() . ' ' . mysql_error();
    echo "<br/>NO DB CONNECTION: ";
    echo "<br/> $errmsg <br/>";
}

// SELECT THE MYSQL DATA BASE
// MAN PAGE: http://us2.php.net/manual/en/function.mysql-select-db.php
if (!$db_sel = mysql_select_db($db_name, $db_connection))
{
    $errmsg = mysql_errno() . ' ' . mysql_error();
    echo "<br/>NO DB SELECTION: ";
    echo "<br/> $errmsg <br/>";
    die('NO DATA BASE');
}
// IF WE GOT THIS FAR WE CAN DO QUERIES




// FUNCTION TO CREATE A DATABASE TABLE
function create_myTable()
{
    $length = ARG_LENGTH;

    mysql_query("DROP TABLE IF EXISTS myTable");
    $psql  = "CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE myTable ( ";
    $psql .= "_key        INT(8)            NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT, ";
    $psql .= "rand_key    VARCHAR($length)  UNIQUE NOT NULL DEFAULT '?', ";
    $psql .= "other_data  VARCHAR(128)      NOT NULL, "; // AS NEEDED BY YOUR APPLICATION
    $psql .= "PRIMARY KEY(`_key`) ";
    $psql .= " ) ENGINE=INNODB DEFAULT CHARSET=ascii";
    if (!$p = mysql_query($psql)) { die( mysql_error() ); }
}




// FUNCTION TO MAKE A RANDOM STRING
function random_string()
{
    // POSSIBLE COMBINATIONS = pow($length,strlen($chr)); = 4.6E18 IF LENGTH IS 4
    //     1...5...10...15...20...25...30......
   $chr = "ABCDEFGHJKMNPQRSTUVWXYZ23456789";
   $str    = "";
   while(strlen($str) < ARG_LENGTH)
   {
       $str .= substr($chr, mt_rand(0,(strlen($chr))), 1);
   }
   return($str);
}




// FUNCTION TO ENSURE THE RANDOM STRING IS UNIQUE
function make_random_key()
{
    $rand_key = '';
    while ($rand_key == '') // GENERATE A UNIQUE AND RANDOM TOKEN
    {
        $rand_key = random_string(ARG_LENGTH);
        $isql     = "INSERT INTO myTable ( rand_key ) VALUES ( '$rand_key' )";
        if (!$i   = mysql_query($isql)) // IF QUERY ERROR
        {
            $err   = mysql_errno();
            if ($err == 1062) // DUPLICATE UNIQUE FIELD ON rand_key
            {
                $rand_key = '';
            }
            else
            {
                /* HANDLE FATAL QUERY ERROR ($isql) */
            }
        }
    }
    return $rand_key;
}




// SHOW HOW TO MAKE LOTS OF UNIQUE AND RANDOM STRINGS
create_myTable();

$kount = 0;
$array = array();
while ($kount < 2501)
{
    $array[] = make_random_key();
    $kount++;
}

print_r($array);
                                            

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Avatar of Ray Paseur
Ray Paseur
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This script already adds the random strings to a data base table.  See line 90.  

You can use ALTER TABLE to add a column to an existing table.  Then change the INSERT statement on line 89 to point to the altered table and use the appropriate column names.
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Ray Paseur
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tjyoung

ASKER

Sometimes you just have to hear it from someone else. Adjust the table rand_key and dropped the values right into the table perfectly.
thanks sorry for the trouble.
No trouble at all - glad to turn on the lightswitch ;-)

All the best, ~Ray