A simple naming convention could be a big help here. Anytime i create a database table, i always (99% of the time) use an "auto increment" id field named id. Not cust_id. Not user_id. Just id. After all, if i know the name of the table, i know what kind of id it is. Now, if that id is referenced in another table, then i append the full table name. Example:

foo: id
     name
     status

bar: id
     name
     status
     foo_id

By keeping a convention such as this, i look up field names less often, and i can also take advantage of this in my code, especially when having to insert into more than one table at a time (second and third normalized tables).

Class::DBI is a difficult module to master, but it powerfully abstracts such details away and allows you retrieve rows easily:

my $cd  = CD->retrieve(1);
my @cds = CD->retrieve_all;
my @cds = CD->search(year => 1980);
my @cds = CD->search_like(title => 'October%');
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But once you have to start joining tables together, things can get a bit tricky. It is worth taking a look at, however.

UPDATE:
Oh, in the spirit of TIMTOWTDI, here is my version of a generic insert:

sub generic_id_fetch {
   my ($table,$id,@field) = @_;
   my $field = @field ? join(',',@field) : '*';
   $dbh->selectrow_hashref("select $field from $table where id=?",unde
+f,$id);
}
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And yes, i hardcoded the name of the id field. YMWV (your mileage will vary). Hope this helps. :)

jeffa

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(the triplet paradiddle with high-hat)