Can a table have two foreign keys? - mysql

I have the following tables (Primary key in bold. Foreign key in Italic)
Customer table
ID---Name---Balance---Account_Name---Account_Type
Account Category table
Account_Type----Balance
Customer Detail table
Account_Name---First_Name----Last_Name---Address
Can I have two foreign keys in the Customer table and how can I implement this in MySQL?
Updated
I am developing a web based accounting system for a final project.
Account Category
Account Type--------------Balance
Assets
Liabilities
Equity
Expenses
Income
Asset
Asset_ID-----Asset Name----Balance----Account Type
Receivable
Receivable_ID-----Receivable Name-------Address--------Tel-----Asset_ID----Account Type
Receivable Account
Transaction_ID----Description----Amount---
Balance----Receivable_ID----Asset_ID---Account Type
I drew the ER(Entity relationship) diagram using a software and when I specify the relationship it automatically added the multiple foreign keys as shown above. Is the design not sound enough?

create table Table1
(
id varchar(2),
name varchar(2),
PRIMARY KEY (id)
)
Create table Table1_Addr
(
addid varchar(2),
Address varchar(2),
PRIMARY KEY (addid)
)
Create table Table1_sal
(
salid varchar(2),`enter code here`
addid varchar(2),
id varchar(2),
PRIMARY KEY (salid),
index(addid),
index(id),
FOREIGN KEY (addid) REFERENCES Table1_Addr(addid),
FOREIGN KEY (id) REFERENCES Table1(id)
)

Yes, MySQL allows this. You can have multiple foreign keys on the same table.
Get more details here FOREIGN KEY Constraints

The foreign keys in your schema (on Account_Name and Account_Type) do not require any special treatment or syntax. Just declare two separate foreign keys on the Customer table. They certainly don't constitute a composite key in any meaningful sense of the word.
There are numerous other problems with this schema, but I'll just point out that it isn't generally a good idea to build a primary key out of multiple unique columns, or columns in which one is functionally dependent on another. It appears that at least one of these cases applies to the ID and Name columns in the Customer table. This allows you to create two rows with the same ID (different name), which I'm guessing you don't want to allow.

Yes, a table have one or many foreign keys and each foreign keys hava a different parent table.

CREATE TABLE User (
user_id INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
userName VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
password VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
email VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
userImage LONGBLOB NOT NULL,
Favorite VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (user_id)
);
and
CREATE TABLE Event (
EventID INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
PRIMARY KEY (EventID),
EventName VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
EventLocation VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
EventPriceRange VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
EventDate Date NOT NULL,
EventTime Time NOT NULL,
EventDescription VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
EventCategory VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
EventImage LONGBLOB NOT NULL,
index(EventID),
FOREIGN KEY (EventID) REFERENCES User(user_id)
);

Related

Which database scheme is better for performance aspect?

----Scheme1----
CREATE TABLE college (
id INT AUTO_INCREMENT,
name VARCHAR(250) NOT NULL,
address VARCHAR(250),
PRIMARY KEY (id)
);
CREATE TABLE student (
college INT NOT NULL,
username VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
name VARCHAR(100),
FOREIGN KEY (college) REFERENCES college(id),
CONSTRAINT pk PRIMARY KEY (college,username)
);
CREATE TABLE subject (
college INT NOT NULL,
id INT NOT NULL,
name VARCHAR(100),
FOREIGN KEY (college) REFERENCES college(id),
CONSTRAINT pk PRIMARY KEY (college,id)
);
CREATE TABLE marks (
college INT NOT NULL,
student VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
subject INT NOT NULL,
marks INT NOT NULL,
// forget about standard for this example
FOREIGN KEY (college) REFERENCES college(id),
FOREIGN KEY (student) REFERENCES student(username),
FOREIGN KEY (subject) REFERENCES subject(id),
CONSTRAINT pk PRIMARY KEY (college,subject,student)
);
----Scheme2----
CREATE TABLE college (
id INT AUTO_INCREMENT,
name VARCHAR(250) NOT NULL,
address VARCHAR(250),
PRIMARY KEY (id)
);
CREATE TABLE student (
college INT NOT NULL,
id BIGINT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
username VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
name VARCHAR(100),
FOREIGN KEY (college) REFERENCES college(id),
PRIMARY KEY (id)
);
CREATE TABLE subject (
college INT NOT NULL,
id BIGINT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
name VARCHAR(100),
FOREIGN KEY (college) REFERENCES college(id),
PRIMARY KEY (id)
);
CREATE TABLE marks (
student VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
subject INT NOT NULL,
id BIGINT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
marks INT NOT NULL,
// forget about standard for this example
FOREIGN KEY (student) REFERENCES student(id),
FOREIGN KEY (subject) REFERENCES subject(id),
PRIMARY KEY (id)
);
Looking at the above database schemes it looks like Scheme1 will give better performance while searching for the result of a specific student and faster in filtering results but it feels like it is not in all normalized forms. While Scheme2, on the other hand, looks to be fully normal but might require more JOIN operations to fetch certain results or filter the data.
Please tell me if I'm wrong about my Schemes here, also tell me which one is better?
I would go for Schema 2: when it comes to reference a table, it is easier done by using a single column (auto_incremented primary key in Schema 1) than a combination of columns (coumpound primary keys in Schema 1). Also, as commented by O.Jones, Schema 2 assumes that two students in the same college cannot have the same name, which does not seem sensible.
There are other issues with Schema 1, eg the foreign key that relates the marks to students is malformed (you would need a coumpound foreign keys that include the college id instead of just the student name).
With properly defined foreign keys referencing primary keys, performance will not be a problem; joins perform good in this situation.
But one flaw should be fixed in Schema 2, that is to store a reference to the college in the marks table. You don't need this, since a student belongs to a college (there is a reference to the college in the student table).
Also, I am unsure that a subject should belong to a college: isn't it possible that the same subject would be taught in different colleges?
Finally, I would suggest giving clearer names to the foreign key columns, like student_id instead of student, and college_id instead of college.
It's difficult to assess whether a schema is normalized without first knowing the the relationships between entities. Can a student be associated with only one college? Can a student be associated multiple times over with the same subject, getting different marks?
Declaring foreign keys maintains referential integrity but slows down insertions and updates. You can get the same functionality without declaring the fks, but you may end up with some orphaned records. The fact that a particular index is used for a fk, or not, makes no difference to SELECT query performance.
JOIN operations use indexes. So do fks. So if you have the correct indexes, your JOIN operations will be efficient. But it's impossible to know which indexes are the best without knowing your JOIN queries.
Conventionally, each table's id column comes first. And many designers name each id column after the table in which it appears, for example college.college_id rather than college.id. That makes JOIN queries slightly easier to read.
You should use a surrogate primary key in the student table (student.student_id) rather than using the student's name as part of the primary key. JOINing on id values is faster than joining on VARCHAR() values. And, some students may share names. (In the real world, peoples's dates of birth accompany their names in tables: it helps tell people apart.)
I think your marks table should contain these columns:
CREATE TABLE marks (
student_id INT NOT NULL,
subject_id INT NOT NULL,
marks INT NOT NULL,
// foreign keys as needed
PRIMARY KEY (student_id, subject_id)
);
Can a student have multiple marks for the same subject? In that case use a marks_id as the pk instead of (student_id, subject_id).

Intersection of Two Tables in SQL

Basically I need to create a new table that uses specific information from two other tables.
For example, I have a table called person with the elements person_id, first_name, last_name, gender, age, and fav_quote. I have a second table called department with the elements dept_id, dept_name, and building. I now need to create and intersection table with the person_id and dept_id elements included. And both must be the primary key (which I assume just means PRIMARY KEY (person_id, dept_id) command in my source).
CREATE TABLE person (
person_id INT(8) NOT NULL auto_increment,
first_name VARCHAR(25) NOT NULL,
last_name VARCHAR(25) NOT NULL,
gender VARCHAR(1),
age INT(8),
fav_quote TEXT,
PRIMARY KEY (person_id)
);
CREATE TABLE department (
dept_id INT(8) NOT NULL auto_increment,
dept_name VARCHAR(25) NOT NULL,
building VARCHAR(25) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (dept_id)
);
That is the code I have for the initial two tables I'm just not sure how to create an intersection and, having gone back over my notes, I can't find the instructions on how to write it.
You got the primary key part right. I'd add foreign keys to your existing table in order to prevent creating interactions with people or departments that don't exist:
CREATE TABLE person_department
person_id INT(8) NOT NULL,
dept_id INT(8) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY(person_id, dept_id),
FOREIGN KEY(person_id) REFERENCES person(person_id),
FOREIGN KEY(dept_id) REFERENCES department(dept_id)
)
You need a table with 2 fields; person_id and dept_id. The table will have foreign keys to the two tables person and department primary keys’ and a composite primary key of both.
Also, this table is only necessary if there is a one to many relationship of person to department. Otherwise just add dept_id as a foreign key in person.

error 1215: database design with foreign key

I am trying to create three tables such as associate, manager and attendance. The attendance table should be having employee and manager details from the other two table which should enable marking the attendance. I created this SQL script. I'm not sure where I am making mistake.
CREATE TABLE associate (
id INT NOT NULL,
idmanager INT NOT NULL,
emp_id DATE NOT NULL,
emp_name VARCHAR(25) NOT NULL,
FOREIGN KEY (id) REFERENCES attendance (associate_id) ON DELETE CASCADE,
FOREIGN KEY (idmanager) REFERENCES attendance (manager_idmanager) ON DELETE CASCADE,
PRIMARY KEY (id)
) ENGINE=INNODB;
CREATE TABLE manager (
id INT NOT NULL,
mgr_usr_id VARCHAR(15) NOT NULL,
mgr_name VARCHAR(25) NOT null,
KEY (id),
KEY (mgr_usr_id),
FOREIGN KEY (id) REFERENCES associate (idmanager) ON DELETE CASCADE,
PRIMARY KEY (id)
) ENGINE=INNODB;
CREATE TABLE attendance (
sno INT NOT NULL,
manager_idmanager INT NOT NULL,
associate_id INT NOT NULL,
date_stamp DATETIME,
state BIT NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (sno)
) ENGINE=INNODB;
Screenshot
It's an issue of ordering. For example, the first statement executed is
CREATE TABLE associate (
which references attendance. However, the attendance table has not yet been created. Switch the order so that any tables that reference other tables come last.
Alternatively, don't put the FOREIGN KEY constraints in the CREATE statements, but them at the end of your script with ALTER TABLE statements. Consider:
CREATE TABLE associate (
id INT NOT NULL,
idmanager INT NOT NULL,
emp_id DATE NOT NULL,
emp_name VARCHAR(25) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (id)
) ENGINE=INNODB;
CREATE TABLE attendance (
sno INT NOT NULL,
manager_idmanager INT NOT NULL,
associate_id INT NOT NULL,
date_stamp DATETIME,
state BIT NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (sno)
) ENGINE=INNODB;
ALTER TABLE associate ADD FOREIGN KEY (id) REFERENCES associate(id) ON DELETE CASCADE;
Edit
The above is just syntax. To model the requested problem consider orthogonality of information. You might also see/hear "normalization." The basic concept is this: have only one copy of your information. The schema should have a single point of authority for all data. For example, if a user has a birthdate, make sure you don't have an ancillary column that also stores their birthday; it's superfluous information and can lead to data errors.
In this case, what is the relationship? What must come first for the other to exist? Can an attendance be had without a manager? How about a manager without attendance? The former makes no sense. In this case then, I would actually use a third table, to form a hierarchy.
Then, consider that maybe roles change in a company. It would not behoove the DB architect to hard code roles as tables. Consider:
CREATE TABLE employee (
id INTEGER NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
name VARCHAR(25) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (id)
) ENGINE=INNODB;
CREATE TABLE role (
id INTEGER NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
name VARCHAR(30) NOT NULL,
description VARCHAR(254) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY( id ),
UNIQUE( name )
) ENGINE=INNODB;
INSERT INTO role (name, description) VALUES
('associate', 'An associate is a ...'),
('manager', 'A manager follows ...');
CREATE TABLE employee_role (
employee_id INTEGER NOT NULL,
role_id INTEGER NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (employee_id, role_id),
FOREIGN KEY (idemployee_id) REFERENCES employee_id (id) ON DELETE CASCADE,
FOREIGN KEY (role_id) REFERENCES role (id) ON DELETE CASCADE
) ENGINE=INNODB;
CREATE TABLE attendance (
sno INTEGER NOT NULL,
employee_id INTEGER NOT NULL,
date_stamp DATETIME,
state BIT NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (sno),
FOREIGN KEY (idemployee_id) REFERENCES employee_id (id) ON DELETE CASCADE
) ENGINE=INNODB;
From this schema, the attendance needs only one foreign key because everyone is an employee. Employee's can have multiple roles, and they can change. Further, role definitions can change without needing to resort to costly DDL statements (data definition layer changes, like ALTER TABLE), and can be modified with simple DML (data manipulation layer changes, like UPDATE TABLE). The former involves rewriting all entries in the tables, and changing schemas, while the latter involves changing individual entries.

Can't add foreign key to mysql

I have multiple tables and they all seem to be fine but there is this one table which I'm trying to create but it wont work because I am keep on getting Error1005 "Foreign key constraint is incorrectly formed".
These are the two tables. I don't know what seems to be the problem.
CREATE TABLE Patient(
ID INT UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT UNIQUE,
Name VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
Age TINYINT UNSIGNED,
Sex VARCHAR(10),
Contact INT(11),
Email TEXT(2083),
PRIMARY KEY(ID)
);
CREATE TABLE Appointments (
Appointment_No INT UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT UNIQUE,
Name VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
Contact INT(11),
Date DATE NOT NULL,
Time TIME NOT NULL,
Reason TEXT(2083),
PRIMARY KEY(Appointment_No),
FOREIGN KEY (Name, Contact) REFERENCES Patient (Name, Contact)
);
As per me, table structure should be like below:
CREATE TABLE Patient(
ID INT UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT UNIQUE,
Name VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
Age TINYINT UNSIGNED,
Sex VARCHAR(10),
Contact INT(11),
Email TEXT(2083),
PRIMARY KEY(ID)
);
CREATE TABLE Appointments (
Appointment_No INT UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT UNIQUE,
Patient_ID INT UNSIGNED NOT NULL,
Date DATE NOT NULL,
Time TIME NOT NULL,
Reason TEXT(2083),
PRIMARY KEY(Appointment_No),
FOREIGN KEY (Patient_ID) REFERENCES Patient (ID)
);
FOREIGN KEY (Name, Contact) REFERENCES Patient (Name, Contact)
The referenced columns in the Patient table must be part of a key. Ideally you would want Patient (Name, Contact) to be a unique key, because then the foreign key is guaranteed to reference exactly one row in the Patient table.
But in your table definition, the Name and Contact columns are not part of a key. That explains why you got the error given your table design.
But your table design is not good. Name and Contact are not good choices as a unique key, because two people can share a name, and in theory you could even have two people with the same name with the same contact details (for example, the former boxer George Foreman named his five sons George).
#Shadow is correct that it's a better idea is to reference Patient(id) instead, because it's guaranteed to be unique already.
Define Engine so sql statement would end with
ENGINE = MyISAM;
It should fix the issue.
Try to split the two foreign keys in two lines like this:
FOREIGN KEY (Contact) REFERENCES Patient (Contact)
FOREIGN KEY (Name) REFERENCES Patient (Name)

Cannot INSERT because of Foreign key constraints - mysql

So I don't understand why I cannot insert data in my table that have foreign constraint keys or even modify anything in it.
Here is an example of the tables that are created. I am trying to insert data in the addresses table:
///////////////////////ADDRESSES TABLE ////////////////////////
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS addresses (
id INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
addressline1 VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
addressline2 VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
postcode VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
phonenumber INT(13) NOT NULL,
country_id INT NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (id),
FOREIGN KEY (country_id) REFERENCES countries(id)
ON UPDATE CASCADE
ON DELETE RESTRICT
) ENGINE=InnoDB ";
///////////////////////COUNTRIES TABLE ////////////////////////
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS countries (
id INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
countryname VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (id)
)
The issue here is that you are trying to insert into a referencing table (addresses) when the referenced entry (the country you reference) does not exist. That's what's triggering the FOREIGN KEY CONSTRAINT exception.
Try first inserting some countries into the countries table, then inserting some addresses where you reference those countries you entered in the first step.
As for your second question, that's a choice for you to make. I would probably choose to have the User have an Address (address field in the User table), but some of that depends on how the data is being used/updated.
Have a quick look through this resource if you're new to relational database design. It covers (in brief) topics like relationship types, key constraints, and normal forms.