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From: Bryan Keller <bryanck@gmail.com>
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Subject: Composite key, scan on partial key
Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2010 15:28:39 -0800
Message-Id: <12888295-58CB-4277-BB10-49A7117FD045@gmail.com>
To: user@hbase.apache.org
Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v1082)

I had a question about using a Scan on part of a composite key. Say I =
have order line item rows, and the ID is order ID + line item ID. Each =
ID is a random string. I want to get all line items for an order with my =
Scan object.

Setting the startRow on Scan is easy enough, just set it to the order ID =
and leave off the line item ID. However, because endRow is exclusive, I =
need to come up with a key that is just past the order ID. This would be =
straightforward if the keys are numeric (just add one to the order ID), =
but becomes kind of a kludge when the keys are strings.

Right now I build the keys with a byte separator between the two strings =
and set it to 0 when storing. Then when I want to scan, I create the =
startRow with the Order ID + (byte)0, and the endRow with Order ID + =
(byte)1. Seems like kind of a waste to have that extra byte just for =
this purpose, though. Is there a better approach, like specifying the =
endRow inclusively?=