Re: FK -> non PK - bad design?

In message <5606b639.0304090641.2282467f_at_posting.google.com>, OtisUsenet <otis_usenet_at_yahoo.com> writes

>
>I wanted to have a database-generated ID for each row just for sanity,
>and because an Oracle DBA once told me it is always good to have a
>db-generated id/PK in each table.

This issue crops up here about once a month but I don't recall anyone saying that they did it for reasons of sanity.

The brief version of the argument against using a system generated numeric and a separate text field is that you need to have a system to keep the two synchronised. That's more work and more error-prone than just using your Type field as a PK.

Sometimes there are good reasons to choose a system generated ID but I'd recommend that you avoid them if you have a real key available in the data.

-- 
Bernard Peek
bap_at_shrdlu.com
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