The following post is about our new Cloud beta feature, Retool Database. If you're not yet familiar with Retool Database, it combines a PostgreSQL database that's hosted by Retool with a spreadsheet-like interface to manage hosted data. You can read more about this feature on our docs.
We were chatting in community office hours about setting up a Retool database to generate primary keys with random integers, and I wanted to share what we came up with.
First, create your Retool Database table:
Next, go to the primary key (id) settings. Set the default value to SQL expression & type in your code. I am using floor(random() * 1000 + 1) as an example (syntax described further here). You can use another Postgres expression that best fits your use case, just keep in mind you don't need the select syntax:
Next, add any other columns you may want & test:
This is not a comprehensive tutorial of all the primary key settings (you can certainly have consecutive primary keys). I highly encourage you to research the best primary key strategy for your use case and come up with your own SQL expression if needed, but I hope this helps demonstrate the power of Retool Database!
Since this is a beta feature, it's still in active development & isn't available on-premise yet. Keep your eyes peeled for updates! 