How to create identity field in MySQL without using auto_increment column? I am trying to create a dynamic system when a user can create different objects and relate them to another objects.

I need is to be able to generate an identity column similar to auto_increment but in an alpha numeric format.

The ids will be something like
001abcdeFGhJk123

Using a id like above will help me identify the object identity. For example I can say the first 4 characters are the object id and the last 14 charecaters are the record identifier.

How can I do this in MySQL. Or is it even possible in MySQL. I belive MS SQL server and Oracle database have field type of identifier that does the trick. 

Thank you in advance
You have to use UUID() function that guarantee that returned string is unique not only within your table or database but all over the world. 

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/miscellaneous-functions.html#function_uuid


  A UUID is designed as a number that is globally unique in space and
  time. Two calls to UUID() are expected to generate two different
  values, even if these calls are performed on two separate computers
  that are not connected to each other.


Also there is UUID_SHORT() function that returns 64-bit INT instead of string, that is way faster for indexing and search. 

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/miscellaneous-functions.html#function_uuid-short