How to insert data with auto-increment columns (fields) in MySQL?

Question

I created a table with a primary key and enabled AUTO_INCRMENT:

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS test.authors (
    hostcheck_id INT PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT,
    instance_id INT,
    host_object_id INT,
    check_type INT,
    is_raw_check INT,
    current_check_attempt INT,
    max_check_attempts INT,
    state INT,
    state_type INT,
    start_time datetime,
    start_time_usec INT,
    end_time datetime,
    end_time_usec INT,
    command_object_id INT,
    command_args VARCHAR(25),
    command_line VARCHAR(100),
    timeout int,
    early_timeout INT,
    execution_time DEC(18,5),
    latency DEC(18,3),
    return_code INT,
    output VARCHAR(50),
    long_output VARCHAR(50),
    perfdata VARCHAR(50)
);

Then, with the following query, I tried using "" and "1" as the first value, but it didn't work:

INSERT INTO test.authors VALUES ('1','1','67','0','0','1','10 ','0','1',
'2012-01-03 12:50:49','108929','2012-01-03 12:50:59','198963','21','',
'/usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_ping 5','30','0','4.04159','0.102','1',
'PING WARNING -DUPLICATES FOUND! Packet loss = 0%, RTA = 2.86 ms','',
'rta=2.860000m=0%;80;100;0');

So, how to insert auto-increment column (field) data into MySQL?

Answer 1

If you want the auto-increment field to be magically assigned automatically, set it to NULL or 0...

Answer 2

To take advantage of a column's auto-increment feature, do not provide a value for the column when inserting the row. The database will provide you with a value.

INSERT INTO test.authors (
   instance_id,host_object_id,check_type,is_raw_check,
   current_check_attempt,max_check_attempts,state,state_type,
   start_time,start_time_usec,end_time,end_time_usec,command_object_id,
   command_args,command_line,timeout,early_timeout,execution_time,
   latency,return_code,output,long_output,perfdata
) VALUES (
   '1','67','0','0','1','10','0','1','2012-01-03 12:50:49','108929',
   '2012-01-03 12:50:59','198963','21','',
   '/usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_ping  5','30','0','4.04159',
   '0.102','1','PING WARNING -DUPLICATES FOUND! Packet loss = 0%, RTA = 2.86 ms',
   '','rta=2.860000m=0%;80;100;0'
);