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Home -> Community -> Mailing Lists -> Oracle-L -> RE: Theory v Practice - and business logic...
As this topic just hits my hot button, I'm going to chime in my 2 cents
worth in as well. This in spite of the fact that you have already gotten
some great responses.
I come from an environment where we have distributed data all over creation. IMS, DB2, Oracle, you name it we have it popping up everywhere. When a new project pops up, guess what the first question is: Does the source of record that we need for this application already exist somewhere?
Now, if it does, I've got a HUGE problem if I am not enforcing the RI on this source data, particularly if this new application is going to be manipulating it somehow. Then, as others have mentioned, there are the "power" users who figure out ODBC and access or Excel.. God help you when they get busy.
Another issue with regards to FK/PK's is the use of some Oracle features, such as query rewrite and MViews, which require these structures to be used. While you may not plan on using those features now, there is no telling what the future may hold.
Simply put, using defined Pk/FK is a best practice. If you have issues with the validation of FK's (for example in a warehouse environment) then enable them without validation.
This leads me to another related hot button topic, thats business logic. In my mind (though I'm having a hard time selling it to apps) the business logic belongs in the database. This for the very same reasons that FK/PK's need to be in place, scalability. That way, when I have new applications coming on line that need to interface with the data, the same business rules are consistently followed.
Bottom line, one has to think about tomorrow when one designs, not just today.
More to churn on,
Robert
Robert G. Freeman - Oracle OCP
Oracle Database Architect
CSX Midtier Database Administration
Author of several Oracle books you can find on Amazon.com!
Londo Mollari: Ah, arrogance and stupidity all in the same package. How efficient of you.
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Wednesday, October 23, 2002 1:45 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L
The developers working on our new VB app are also responsible for
setting up the Oracle DB behind it. The app is for an order
entry/despatch/warehouse system with >5 million customers and >1000
orders per day. We have nearly 400 tables. They are not planning on
using primary keys/secondary keys, as they say they will handle all the
constraints via VB.
I only have a theoretical knowledge of database design, which says this
is very wrong. Is the Oracle system being used as anything more than an
expensive file system? In real world scenarios, is this a common
practice?
Regards
Craig Healey
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