Is it possible to have the equivalent of a serial data type in a table, 
sub-categorized? 

Assume the following: 

create table categories (id serial, title varchar); 

Now, I want to create an entries table, and by default, count serially by 
category, so that category 1 has entries.sequence of 1, 2, 3, and so does 
category 2. (where sequence= 1, 2, 3...)  Something like: 

create table entries (
categories_id integer not null references categories(id), 
sequence default max(entries.sequence WHERE categories_id=this.categories_id), 
primary key (categories_id, sequence) 
); 

I'm not sure about the semantics of this, but i want sequence to start at 1, 
and count up, for its category as defined by categories_id. I already know 
that I can set enforce the uniqueness of categories_id and sequence with thte 
primary key, and I could just write some more app code to do a query to get 
the max value of sequence where categories_id=$categories_id, but can this be 
done without adding a bunch of xtra application code? 

-Ben 
-- 
"The best way to predict the future is to invent it."
- XEROX PARC slogan, circa 1978

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