SQL Server - Order Identity Fields in Table - sql-server

Question

I have a table with this structure:
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[cl](
[ID] [int] IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL,
[NIF] [numeric](9, 0) NOT NULL,
[Name] [varchar](80) NOT NULL,
[Address] [varchar](100) NULL,
[City] [varchar](40) NULL,
[State] [varchar](30) NULL,
[Country] [varchar](25) NULL,
Primary Key([ID],[NIF])
);
Imagine that this table has 3 records. Record 1, 2, 3...
When ever I delete Record number 2 the IDENTITY Field generates a Gap. The table then has Record 1 and Record 3. Its not correct!
Even if I use:
DBCC CHECKIDENT('cl', RESEED, 0)
It does not solve my problem becuase it will set the ID of the next inserted record to 1. And that's not correct either because the table will then have a multiple ID.
Does anyone has a clue about this?

Answer 1

No database is going to reseed or recalculate an auto-incremented field/identity to use values in between ids as in your example. This is impractical on many levels, but some examples may be:
Integrity - since a re-used id could mean records in other systems are referring to an old value when the new value is saved
Performance - trying to find the lowest gap for each value inserted
In MySQL, this is not really happening either (at least in InnoDB or MyISAM - are you using something different?). In InnoDB, the behavior is identical to SQL Server where the counter is managed outside of the table, so deleted values or rolled back transactions leave gaps between last value and next insert. In MyISAM, the value is calculated at time of insertion instead of managed through an external counter. This calculation is what is giving the perception of being recalcated - it's just never calculated until actually needed (MAX(Id) + 1). Even this won't insert inside gaps (like the id = 2 in your example).
Many people will argue if you need to use these gaps, then there is something that could be improved in your data model. You shouldn't ever need to worry about these gaps.
If you insist on using those gaps, your fastest method would be to log deletes in a separate table, then use an INSTEAD OF INSERT trigger to perform the inserts with your intended keys by first looking for records in these deletions table to re-use (then deleting them to prevent re-use) and then using the MAX(Id) + 1 for any additional rows to insert.

Answer 2

I guess what you want is something like this:
create table dbo.cl
(
SurrogateKey int identity(1, 1)
primary key
not null,
ID int not null,
NIF numeric(9, 0) not null,
Name varchar(80) not null,
Address varchar(100) null,
City varchar(40) null,
State varchar(30) null,
Country varchar(25) null,
unique (ID, NIF)
)
go
I added a surrogate key so you'll have the best of both worlds. Now you just need a trigger on the table to "adjust" the ID whenever some prior ID gets deleted:
create trigger tr_on_cl_for_auto_increment on dbo.cl
after delete, update
as
begin
update dbo.cl
set ID = d.New_ID
from dbo.cl as c
inner join (
select c2.SurrogateKey,
row_number() over (order by c2.SurrogateKey asc) as New_ID
from dbo.cl as c2
) as d
on c.SurrogateKey = d.SurrogateKey
end
go
Of course this solution also implies that you'll have to ensure (whenever you insert a new record) that you check for yourself which ID to insert next.