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Home -> Community -> Usenet -> c.d.o.misc -> Re: ATTN: VSATYA RE:Help on Data Integrity Constraints ATTN: VSATYA
"Matt" <none_at_anon.com> wrote:
>VSATYA,
> Foreign key on Status referencing MasterAISTATUS(Code) <---so long as the value is in the column it will be added
> Foreign key on Gender referencing MasterSex_table(Code) <---so long as the value is in the column it will be added
> Foreign key on Designation referencing MasterRoll_table(Desc) <---so long as the value is in the column it will be added
Please don't top-post.
Using a Foreign key constraint on a Gender table is just silly - use a check constraint. You can get skewed indices which can slow things down a lot - same goes for any "binary" value like AISTATUS - check constraint again.
I don't know what my rule of thumb would be, but bascially if you are *_EVER_* going to add to a list of values, use a table and foreign key constraint, but with something like Gender which will *_NEVER_* have any values other than M or F, then use a check constraint.
Paul...
-- plinehan __at__ yahoo __dot__ __com__ XP Pro, SP 2, Oracle, 9.2.0.1.0 (Enterprise Ed.) Interbase 6.0.2.0; When asking database related questions, please give other posters some clues, like operating system, version of db being used and DDL. The exact text and/or number of error messages is useful (!= "it didn't work!"). Thanks. Furthermore, As a courtesy to those who spend time analyzing and attempting to help, please do not top post.Received on Thu May 12 2005 - 08:26:24 CDT