I have 3 tables:
class_a
CREATE TABLE class_a (
id INT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT,
std_id INT NOT NULL UNIQUE,
name varchar(225) NOT NULL)
class_b
CREATE TABLE class_b (
id INT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT,
std_id INT NOT NULL UNIQUE,
name varchar(225) NOT NULL)
sn_number
CREATE TABLE sn_number (
id INT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT,
pin INT NOT NULL UNIQUE,
serial VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL UNIQUE,
std_id INT NULL DEFAULT NULL,
FOREIGN KEY(std_id) REFERENCES class_a(std_id)
)
How can I reference unique std_id in class_a and class_b table as a foreign key in sn_number table.
I want to achieve something like ALTER TABLE sn_number ADD FOREIGN KEY(std_id) REFERENCES class_a(std_id), class_b(std_id)
I have tried doing this ALTER TABLE sn_number ADD FOREIGN KEY(std_id) REFERENCES class_a(std_id)
followed by
ALTER TABLE sn_number ADD FOREIGN KEY(std_id) REFERENCES class_b(std_id) on sn_number table but will keep overwriting each other.
I have read these:
Foreign Key Referencing Multiple Tables and
Composite key as foreign key (sql)
But I can't find the solution to the problem am having.
Foreign key must reference only one parent table. This is fundamental to both SQL syntax, and relational theory.
What you can do, is add another table classes or students that contain all std_id , then just reference the FK to it.
Since you haven't explicitly given a constraint name in your FOREIGN KEY declarations, the DBMS makes one up from the table name sn_number. Your problem is that you are thus implicitly declaring the same constraint name each time, so the old info for the name is lost. Just use different explicit constraint names for different cases of table & column list REFERENCES table & column list.
CONSTRAINT fk_sn_number_a FOREIGN KEY(std_id) REFERENCES class_a(std_id)
CONSTRAINT fk_sn_number_b FOREIGN KEY(std_id) REFERENCES class_b(std_id)
Just learn about the basics of Using FOREIGN KEY Constraints.
PS As remarked in a comment, this is a poor design. But contrary to the comment & another answer, your need for two foreign keys from the same table & column list is not a symptom of poor design. But notice that the problems that people usually have with "Foreign Key Referencing Multiple Tables" in questionable designs is that they think that their tables as designed need a foreign key from one place to two places when they don't. Such a design doesn't even involve a foreign key, it just involves something reminiscent of a foreign key.
Related
I have two tables,
diary with columns
id primary key
Narrative text
and
master with columns
id primary key
Diaryid int
EventDate date
Location int
I want to ensure that master(Diaryid) is always a valid diary(id)
Can I use foreign key to achieve this? Bearing in mind that one key is a primary key and the other int.
Any advice would be apprecaited.
Yes you cqan achieve this by using a FOREIGN KEY.
Also you should define it as NOT NULL, so that only exiasting diary keys are allowed
CREATE TABLE master(Diaryid BIGINT NOT NULL
, FOREIGN KEY (Diaryid)
REFERENCES diary(id)
);
You cqan add
ON DELETE CASCADE
So that the Master row will be deleted also when the diary rows gets removed
Don't know what is different but problem is solved.
CREATE TABLE diary(id int AUTO_INCREMENT, Narrative text, PRIMARY KEY(id))
CREATE TABLE master(id int AUTO_INCREMENT, Diaryid int,datemade date, FOREIGN KEY(Diaryid) REFERENCES diary(id), primary key (id))
So am now adding diary records and can have multiple master records so long as the Diaryid is valid
Thanks
I want to know how to use a foreign key in a table,
I have a code here:
create table penerbit_buku(
id_buku char(8),
foreign key(id_buku) references buku(id_buku),
id_penerbit char(3),
foreign key(id_penerbit) references penerbit(id_penerbit)
)
Can I use this code instead:
create table penerbit_buku(
id_buku char(8) references buku(id_buku),
id_penerbit char(3) references penerbit(id_penerbit)
)
I have tried both and it succeed, is that correct?
No, MySQL parses but ignores the standard inline REFERENCES syntax.
When you declare a foreign key along with an individual column definition, it accepts the syntax as legitimate SQL, but then does not store the foreign key constraint. There's no error reported, but it's as if you didn't write the foreign key syntax at all.
You must declare foreign keys as table-level constraints (your first example above).
This is a case where MySQL is missing a feature of standard SQL. The issue was reported back in 2004, but never fixed! https://bugs.mysql.com/bug.php?id=4919
The reason for this issue is that historically, foreign key constraints were not supported by MySQL itself, but by the InnoDB storage engine, which was made by another company back then. They had to implement their own parser for CREATE TABLE and ALTER TABLE to support foreign keys, and they didn't feel like going the extra steps to support inline foreign key syntax, when table-level foreign key syntax would work.
The architect of InnoDB posted this response:
[6 Sep 2006 10:03] Heikki Tuuri
This will be fixed in MySQL foreign keys, when they are available for all table types.
The MySQL project is gradually working their way toward integrating foreign keys and similar features directly into the MySQL product. Perhaps in a few more years we'll see better support for standard FK syntax.
EXAMPLE:
CREATE TABLE Orders (
ID int NOT NULL,
Number int NOT NULL,
PersonID int,
PRIMARY KEY (ID),
FOREIGN KEY (PersonID) REFERENCES Persons(PersonID)
);
The foreign key must be referencing a primary key in another table
create table penerbit_buku
(id_buku char(8),
id_penerbit char(3),
foreign key(id_buku) references buku(id_buku),
foreign key(id_penerbit) references penerbit(id_penerbit)
);
I would need to see your other tables to give better help in the code
You can use this:
ALTER TABLE `table1`
ADD CONSTRAINT `FK_table1_table2` FOREIGN KEY (`fk_id`) REFERENCES `table2` (`id`);
first lets look at the description of FOREIGN KEY.
A FOREIGN KEY is a key used to link two tables together.
or
A FOREIGN KEY is a field (or collection of fields) in one table that refers to the PRIMARY KEY in another table.
Usually a table that has the foreign key is the child table. and the other table is the reference or parent table.
Since i Can not see your tables, ill give you different example.
Look at the following two tables:
Persons table:
Personal_id LastName FirstName age
1 pretty bob 20
2 angry jack 30
3 happy sue 28
Order Table:
OrderID OrderNumber Personal_id
1 77895 3
2 44678 3
3 22456 2
4 24562 1
Now look how Personal_id column in Orders table points to Personal_id in persons table.
The Personal_id in persons table is the primary key and the Personal_id in the orders table is the FOREIGN KEY.
now except linking how does foreign key help:
two general ways that i can think of:
1- foreign key is like a constrain that makes sure no action would destroy the links between tables
2- foreign key also acts as a constrain to stop invalid data from being inserted into the foreign key column, as it has to reference to the primary key column in the other table
code example in MySql:
CREATE TABLE Orders (
OrderID int NOT NULL,
OrderNumber int NOT NULL,
PersonID int,
PRIMARY KEY (OrderID),
FOREIGN KEY (Personal_id) REFERENCES Persons(Personal_id)
);
code example is SQL-Server/MS Access/ Oracle:
CREATE TABLE Orders (
OrderID int NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
OrderNumber int NOT NULL,
PersonID int FOREIGN KEY REFERENCES Persons(Personal_id)
);
Primary key of Orders table is the orderID.
Foreign key of Orders table is what links it to persons table.
Personal_id columns are the columns that link both tables.
Both of the code chunks do the same depends what are you working with.
real world example:
assuming:
customer_Table column to be a primary key in restaurant table and foreign key in orders table.
if a waiter is putting customer_Table number 20 in the machine, and he puts customer_Table 200 by mistake such key does not exist as a primary key in restaurant table so he cant.
Extra:
what if you want to allow naming of the FOREIGN KEY constraint, and define a FOREIGN KEY constraint on many columns?
MySQL / SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access:
CREATE TABLE Orders (
OrderID int NOT NULL,
OrderNumber int NOT NULL,
Personal_id int,
PRIMARY KEY (OrderID),
CONSTRAINT FK_PersonOrder FOREIGN KEY (Personal_id)
REFERENCES Persons(Personal_id)
);
I am trying to create a table that is a foreign key of another table and make it not null, but I am running into trouble making both happen. I was able to successfully get foreign keys working that did not require NOT NULL but I can't get both working.
Here is the line giving me trouble
CONSTRAINT instructor FOREIGN KEY (id) REFERENCES Instructor(id) NOT NULL
then I get the error:
CONSTRAINT instructor FOREIGN KEY (id) REFERENCES Instructor(id) NOT NULL,
*
ERROR at line 5:
ORA-00907: missing right parenthesis
Also, I am getting a weird error when trying to create a table (note, this table is created after creating the table that contains the above error) where it fails at a very trivial part:
CREATE TABLE Enrollment (
CONSTRAINT class_id FOREIGN KEY (id) REFERENCES Class(id) NOT NULL,
CONSTRAINT member_id FOREIGN KEY (id) REFERENCES RecCenterMember(id) NOT NULL,
cost int NOT NULL
);
Then for that command I get this error:
CREATE TABLE Enrollment (
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-00904: : invalid identifier
How can I fix these two errors?
You need to create the column before you try creating constraints on the column.
You have:
CREATE TABLE Enrollment (
CONSTRAINT class_id FOREIGN KEY (id) REFERENCES Class(id) NOT NULL,
CONSTRAINT member_id FOREIGN KEY (id) REFERENCES RecCenterMember(id) NOT NULL,
cost int NOT NULL
);
You need:
CREATE TABLE Enrollment (
id INT NOT NULL CONSTRAINT class_id REFERENCES Class(id),
CONSTRAINT member_id FOREIGN KEY (id) REFERENCES RecCenterMember(id),
cost INT NOT NULL
);
Note that in the first line, the FOREIGN KEY isn't necessary because the column is implied. In the second line, the id is identified. You could also write:
CREATE TABLE Enrollment
(
id INT NOT NULL,
CONSTRAINT class_id FOREIGN KEY (id) REFERENCES Class(id),
CONSTRAINT member_id FOREIGN KEY (id) REFERENCES RecCenterMember(id),
cost INT NOT NULL
);
It is unusual, though not automatically wrong, to make a single column (id) be a foreign key of two tables simultaneously. It isn't clear if you actually want three columns in your table — and if you do, which column names are in your table.
You could also use the appropriate notation for an automatically allocated type in MySQL syntax (SERIAL instead of INT NOT NULL, or add AUTO_INCREMENT, etc).
Maybe you're really after:
CREATE TABLE Enrollment
(
id SERIAL,
class_id INT NOT NULL CONSTRAINT class_id REFERENCES Class(id),
member_id INT NOT NULL CONSTRAINT member_id REFERENCES RecCenterMember(id),
cost INT NOT NULL
);
This makes more sense in general. You're creating a new enrollment record for a pre-existing class, and for a pre-existing recreation centre member, and recording its cost.
Syntax diagrams vs actual behaviour
If, as Michael - sqlbot suggests — and I've no reason whatsoever to disbelieve him — MySQL recognizes but does not respond to the REFERENCES clause in a column definition in a CREATE TABLE statement but only acts on full FOREIGN KEY clauses, then you have to adjust my suggested answers from their syntactically correct but semantically ignored form to something like:
Option 1 (minimally changing the SQL from the question):
CREATE TABLE Enrollment (
id INT NOT NULL,
CONSTRAINT class_id FOREIGN KEY (id) REFERENCES Class(id),
CONSTRAINT member_id FOREIGN KEY (id) REFERENCES RecCenterMember(id),
cost int NOT NULL
);
Option 2 (what I consider the most plausible version):
CREATE TABLE Enrollment
(
id SERIAL,
class_id INT NOT NULL,
CONSTRAINT fk_class_id FOREIGN KEY (class_id) REFERENCES Class(id),
member_id INT NOT NULL,
CONSTRAINT fk_member_id FOREIGN KEY (member_id) REFERENCES RecCenterMember(id),
cost INT NOT NULL
);
Or some other variant of this syntax based on the desired table schema ignoring the FK constraints, then adding the constraints along the lines shown.
Key Point
You must define the columns before you define the foreign keys based on those columns.
I'm very new to SQL, I'm trying to define a 2 tables Hospital and Hospital_Address but when I'm trying to add foreign key in Hospital_Address it throws an error: "1215: Cannot add foreign key"
create table Hospital (
HId Int not null,
HName varchar(40) not null,
HDept int, Hbed Int,
HAreaCd int not null,
Primary Key (HId)
);
create table Hospital_Address (
HAreaCd Int not null,
HArea varchar(40) not null,
HCity varchar(40),
HAdd1 varchar(40),
HAdd2 varchar(40),
Primary Key (HArea),
foreign key (HAreaCd) references Hospital (HAreaCd));
Please help me in this regard. Thanks in advance.
MySQL requires that there be an index on the HAreaCd column in the parent Hospital table, in order for you to reference that column in a FOREIGN KEY constraint.
The normative pattern is for the FOREIGN KEY to reference the PRIMARY KEY of the parent table, although MySQL extends that to allow a FOREIGN KEY to reference a column that is a UNIQUE KEY, and InnoDB extends that (beyond the SQL standard) and allows a FOREIGN KEY to reference any set of columns, as long as there is an index with those columns as the leading columns (in the same order specified in the foreign key constraint.) (That is, in InnoDB, the referenced columns do not need to be unique, though the behavior with this type of relationship may not be what you intend.)
If you create an index on that column in Hospital table, e.g.:
CREATE INDEX Hospital_IX1 ON Hospital (HAreaCd);
Then you can create a foreign key constraint that references that column.
However, because this is a non-standard extension of MySQL and InnoDB, the "best practice" (as other answers here indicate) is for a FOREIGN KEY to reference the PRIMARY KEY of the foreign table. And ideally, this will be a single column.
Given the existing definition of the Hospital table, a better option for a foreign key referencing it would be to add the Hid column to the Hospital_Address table
... ADD HId Int COMMENT 'FK ref Hospital.HId'
... ADD CONSTRAINT FK_Hospital_Address_Hospital
FOREIGN KEY (HId) REFERENCES Hospital (HId)
To establish the relationship between the rows, the values of the new HId column will need to be populated.
You cannot add a foreign key to a non-primary key element of another table usually.
If you really need to do so, refer to this question for help : Foreign Key to non-primary key
HAreaCd in the Hospital table should be a primary key. Only then can you reference it in the Hospital_Address table
What would be the code for creating a table with two foreign keys?
I have a USER table and a PICTURE table. Since a USER can be in many PICTURE and many PICTURE can be from a USER, I need a third table with both primary keys.
Thank you SO, as usual you are invaluable for a learning novice. :)
I can't speak specifically for mySQL but in most databases I have worked with you can put as many foreign keys as you need on a table. But you can only have one primary key. A third table with both keys is the right choice. Make a foreign key to each of the other two tables and a primary key consisting of both ids in the table.
If I understood correctly, you may need to do something like the following:
CREATE TABLE users (
user_id INT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
name VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL
) ENGINE=INNODB;
CREATE TABLE pictures (
picture_id INT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
filename VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
posted_by INT NOT NULL,
FOREIGN KEY (posted_by) REFERENCES users(user_id)
) ENGINE=INNODB;
CREATE TABLE users_in_pictures (
user_id INT NOT NULL,
picture_id INT NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (user_id, picture_id),
FOREIGN KEY (user_id) REFERENCES users(user_id),
FOREIGN KEY (picture_id) REFERENCES pictures(picture_id)
) ENGINE=INNODB;
Note that each picture can be posted by a user. In fact the posted_by field is constrained by a foreign key that references the users table.
In addition, I assume that you want to tag pictures ala-facebook. In this case, you can use the third table, which is using a composite primary key on (user_id, picture_id) and both fields are also constrained to the appropriate table.