Trying to get the last row from a resultset

Question

Hi,
I'm trying to do a query to postgreSQL and have it return the last updated value, (last row).
My prepared statement is returning the correct results, but i'm having a problem getting the latest value.
I'm using a comboBox to drive a textfield, to load the last entered values in depending on which item in the comboBox is selected.
I've tried a variety of things and most seem to return the first row, not showing the updated values.
Or, if it does work, it takes to long to load, and i get an error.
here is the working code;
Object m = machCBX.getSelectedItem():
try { PreparedStatment last = conn.prepareStatement("SELECT part, count FROM production WHERE machine = ?",
ResultSet.TYPE_SCROLL_INSENSITIVE,  //tried both INSENSITIVE and SENSITIVE
ResultSet.CONCUR_READ_ONLY);
last.setString(1, String.valueOf(m));
rs. = last.executeQuery();
if(rs.isAfterLast) == false ) {
rs.afterLast();
while(rs.previous()) {
String p = rs.getString("part");
int c = rs.getInt("count");
partJTX.setText(p);
countJTX.setText(c);
}this grabs values, but they are not the last entered values.
Now if i try to use rs.last() it returns the value i'm looking for but takes to long, and i get:
Exception in thread "AWT-EventQueue-0" java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Java heap space I also know using ra.last() isn't the best way to go.
I'm just wondering if there is another way other than getting into vectors and row count? or am i better off to go with the later?
thanks
-PD

Answer 1

OK, you've got a major misunderstanding...
The relational database model is built on the storage of sets - UNORDERED sets. In other words, when you hand a database a SELECT statement without an ORDER BY clause, the database is free to return the results in any order.
Now it so happens that most databases will happen to return data retrieved by an unordered SELECT, at least for a while, in the same order that it was inserted, especially if no UPDATE or DELETE activity has occured, and no database maintenance has occured. However, eventually most tables have some operation that creates a "space" in the underlying storage, or causes a row to expand and have to be moved or extended, or something. Then the database will start returning unordered results in a different order. If you (or other people) never ever ever UPDATE or DELETE a table, then on some databases the data might well come out in insertion order for a very very long time; given human nature and the way projects tend to work, relying on that is a sucker's bet, IMHO.
In other words, if you want the "most recent" something, you need to store a timestamp with your data. (With some databases, you might be able to take advantage of some non-standard feature to get "last updates" or "row change timestamps", but I know of no such for Postgres.
While this won't solve your major problem, above, your issue with rs.last is probably occuring because Postgres by default will prefetch your entire ResultSet. Use Statement.setFetchSize() to change that (PreparedStatement inherits the method, of course).