how to set auto increment column with sql developer

How do I set a column to increment automatically with Oracle SQL Developer? Why is the form disabled?

Oracle SQL Developer

Note: The image shows the Data Modeler, but the question and top answer talk about editing an existing database.

If you want to make your PK auto increment, you need to set the ID column property for that primary key.

Right click on the table and select "Edit".
In "Edit" Table window, select "columns", and then select your PK column.
Go to ID Column tab and select Column Sequence as Type. This will create a trigger and a sequence, and associate the sequence to primary key.

See the picture below for better understanding.

enter image description here

// My source is: http://techatplay.wordpress.com/2013/11/22/oracle-sql-developer-create-auto-incrementing-primary-key/

Unfortunately oracle doesnot support auto_increment like mysql does. You need to put a little extra effort to get that.

say this is your table -

CREATE TABLE MYTABLE (
  ID NUMBER NOT NULL,
  NAME VARCHAR2(100)
  CONSTRAINT "PK1" PRIMARY KEY (ID)
);

You will need to create a sequence -

CREATE SEQUENCE S_MYTABLE
START WITH 1
INCREMENT BY 1
CACHE 10;

and a trigger -

CREATE OR REPLACE TRIGGER T_MYTABLE_ID
BEFORE INSERT
ON MYTABLE
REFERENCING NEW AS NEW
FOR EACH ROW
BEGIN
  if(:new.ID is null) then
  SELECT S_MYTABLE.nextval
  INTO :new.ID
  FROM dual;
  end if;
END;
/

ALTER TRIGGER "T_MYTABLE_ID" ENABLE;

You can make auto increment in SQL Modeler. In column properties window Click : General then Tick the box of Auto Increment. After that the auto increment window will be enabled for you.

@tom-studee you were right, it's possible to do it in the data modeler.

Double click your table, then go to the column section. Here double click on the column which will have the auto increment. In the general section there is a checkbox "autoincrement", just tick it.

After that you can also go to the "autoincrement" section to customize it.

When you save it and ask the data modeler to generate the SQL script, you will see the sequence and trigger which represent your autoincrement.

UPDATE: In Oracle 12c onward we have an option to create auto increment field, its better than trigger and sequence.

Right click on the table and select "Edit".
In "Edit" Table window, select "columns", and then select your PK column.
Go to Identity Column tab and select "Generated as Identity" as Type, put 1 in both start with and increment field. This will make this column auto increment.

See the below image

enter image description here

From SQL Statement

IDENTITY column is now available on Oracle 12c:

 create table t1 (
     c1 NUMBER GENERATED by default on null as IDENTITY,
     c2 VARCHAR2(10)
     );

or specify starting and increment values, also preventing any insert into the identity column (GENERATED ALWAYS) (again, Oracle 12c+ only)

create table t1 (
    c1 NUMBER GENERATED ALWAYS as IDENTITY(START with 1 INCREMENT by 1),
    c2 VARCHAR2(10)
    );

EDIT : if you face any error like "ORA-30673: column to be modified is not an identity column", then you need to create new column and delete the old one.

how to set auto increment column with sql developer

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