Path: news.f.de.plusline.net!news-fra1.dfn.de!newsfeed.hanau.net!newsfeed2.scan-plus.net!news.germany.com!feed.xsnews.nl!border-1.ams.xsnews.nl!feeder1.cambrium.nl!feed.tweaknews.nl!138.199.65.86.MISMATCH!sn-xt-ams-06!sn-xt-ams-05!sn-ams!sn-feed-ams-01!sn-post-ams-02!sn-post-sjc-01!supernews.com!corp.supernews.com!not-for-mail From: Walt Newsgroups: comp.databases.oracle.server,comp.databases.oracle.misc Subject: Re: not using foreign keys? Date: Wed, 06 Jun 2007 17:55:15 -0400 Organization: Corwood Industries Message-ID: <136eba3ge4vpk1e@corp.supernews.com> Reply-To: walt_askier@SHOESyahoo.com User-Agent: Thunderbird 1.5.0.12 (Windows/20070509) MIME-Version: 1.0 References: <1180979621.128496.281540@n4g2000hsb.googlegroups.com> <46644eb3$0$16320$88260bb3@free.teranews.com> <1181141106.374929@bubbleator.drizzle.com> In-Reply-To: <1181141106.374929@bubbleator.drizzle.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Complaints-To: abuse@supernews.com Lines: 26 Xref: news.f.de.plusline.net comp.databases.oracle.server:199060 comp.databases.oracle.misc:79873 DA Morgan wrote: > Brian Peasland wrote: > >> A worse approach would be to let the application handle the >> referential integrity. But don't get me started on that.... > > What we somehow need to educate these front-end developers about is that > front-ends are technically incapable of enforcing referential integrity. > > They give the appearance of doing so but actually do not and can not. > No front-end designable is capable of keeping someone accessing the > data with any other tool from destroying it be that batch loads with > SQL*Loader, DBAs with SQL*Plus, or a host of tools that use ODBC or JDBC. Well said. I think in this case we're looking at a data designer who is *planning* on wanking the data with one of those tools. Iron clad data integrity rules make for a "closed system" that you can't bend to your whim using sql*plus or your chainsaw of choice. What's needed here is a DBA who understands the value of data, and also understands that he shouldn't be allowed to break the rules of data integrity any more than the lowly applications programmers. //Walt