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Asked: 2026-06-09T05:57:10+00:00

I used to use RNGCryptoServiceProvider to generate string-based Order ID’s, but, there were 4

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I used to use RNGCryptoServiceProvider to generate string-based Order ID’s, but, there were 4 instances where ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789!@$%^*()_- would generate an already-existing Order ID.

And it got me thinking…

Why can’t we just use something like:

<html>
...
<p>@GenerateOrderId()</p>
...
</html>

and:

public string GenerateOrderId()
{
   return "OID" + 
      DateTime.Now.Year + DateTime.Now.Month +
      DateTime.Now.Day + 
      DateTime.Now.Hour + 
      DateTime.Now.Minute + 
      DateTime.Now.Second + 
      DateTime.Now.Millisecond;
}

I’ve been told that it’s a bad idea, but without any explanation, or reason, it’s still stuck in my head.
… The reason I’d like to use this, is because it will always be unique.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Computers work at nanosecond speeds. You would be guaranteed to generate a duplicate order ID almost immediately.

    Your best bet would be to use a GUID [MSDN-C#] [MSDN-SQL] (a.k.a. UNIQUEIDENTIFIER in the SQL world).

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