Generation of short unique keys in mysql how to implement?

Question

MySQL

Hello, I have a table like this in a database

CREATE TABLE links (
id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT NOT NULL,
url VARCHAR(2048) NOT NULL,
short_key VARCHAR(10) NOT NULL
);

I want to drop the id field and use short_key instead, which will play the same role.
short_key is a case-sensitive field, it must be PRIMARY KEY and, when inserted, it must be automatically
generated with a string length of 1 to 10 characters, which includes only Latin letters.

Can you tell me how to make the short_key generated automatically with a check for uniqueness according to the above criteria?

UPDATE: I forgot to say that the short_key target is needed so that smart-ass users cannot iterate through all records by id by changing the id in the link.
Thanks in advance for your time!

Answer 1

Leave the database alone. She has nothing to do with this task at all.
All you need is reversible encryption with your ID key - so that the user sees the encrypted string, and you can get the ID back from it. That's all.
PS However, special encryption is not required for such a purpose. Collect the string {N1}{N2}{N3}, where N1 and N2 are random numbers of a given length, and N3 = (N1 * N2 + ID) XOR C - here is the finished short_key, from which we get back ID = (N3 XOR C ) - (N1*N2)

Answer 2

Since your goal is "needed so that smart-ass users cannot sort through all the records by id by changing the id in the link."
Leave the ID as AUTOINCREMENT INTEGER and just add one more field with a "salt", for the char(3) type example, where when inserting and store the random string value.
When you generate a URL, then make it according to the pattern ID + "-" + SALT, which will help you achieve the desired goal.

Answer 3

SQL does not know how to generate unique rows. Generate with php:unique();

Answer 4

UUID() - very long?