I've got 3 schemas, Course, Takes, Instructs.
Under course, I have a course_id as primary key which I want to reference the attribute course_id in both takes and instructs. How can I do that?
Currently this is my course schema where I'm only referencing 1 other table
CREATE TABLE Course (
course_id int PRIMARY KEY REFERENCES Takes (course_id),
)
Are you sure you don't have it backwards?
Takes references Course.
Instructs references Course
Would be a more normal arrangement.
You can do ADD CONSTRAINT after table creation if that's truly your model.
As far as I understood, you have the Course table with the primary key course_id. Then, there are tables Takes and Instructs and each of them has to reference the Course table (have course_id as a foreign key). In your query, Course references Takes but it has to be vice versa.
In case none of those tables exist you need to create them as follows:
CREATE TABLE Course (course_id INT PRIMARY KEY);
CREATE TABLE Takes (take_id INT PRIMARY KEY, course_id INT,
FOREIGN KEY (course_id) REFERENCES Course(course_id));
CREATE TABLE Instructs (instruct_id INT PRIMARY KEY, course_id INT,
FOREIGN KEY (course_id) REFERENCES Course(course_id));
In case the tables Takes and Instructs already exist you should modify them with ALTER TABLE:
ALTER TABLE Takes
ADD CONSTRAINT fk_course
FOREIGN KEY (course_id)
REFERENCES Course(course_id);
And the same for the Instructs table.
Related
this is probably a simple question but I am quite new to SQL and databases, so I have been following this site: https://www.postgresqltutorial.com/postgresql-foreign-key/ to try and create a table that consist of primary keys from other tables.
Here I have the structure of the database in an excel overview. With colors showing the relations. i am having problems with the One-To-Many tables. As I get the same error every time "ERROR: column "id" referenced in foreign key constraint does not exist
SQL state: 42703".
The SQL query:
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS ingredient_to_unit_relations;
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS ingrediens;
CREATE TABLE ingrediens (
id serial,
name_of_ingredient varchar(255),
price_per_unit int,
PRIMARY KEY (id)
);
CREATE TABLE ingredient_to_unit_relations (
ingredient_relation_id int GENERATED ALWAYS AS IDENTITY,
PRIMARY KEY (ingredient_relation_id),
constraint Fk_ingredient_id
FOREIGN KEY (id)
REFERENCES ingrediens (id)
);
You need to define the column in order to declare it as a foreign key:
CREATE TABLE ingredient_to_unit_relations (
ingredient_relation_id int GENERATED ALWAYS AS IDENTITY,
ingredient_id int,
PRIMARY KEY (ingredient_relation_id),
constraint Fk_ingredient_id FOREIGN KEY (ingredient_id) REFERENCES ingrediens (id)
);
I might recommend some somewhat different naming conventions (I changed the name id in the table above):
CREATE TABLE ingredients (
ingredient_id int GENERATED ALWAYS AS IDENTITY PRIMARY KEY,
name varchar(255),
price_per_unit int
);
CREATE TABLE ingredient_to_unit_relations (
ingredient_relation_id int GENERATED ALWAYS AS IDENTITY PRIMARY KEY,
ingredient_id int,
CONSTRAINT Fk_ingredient_id FOREIGN KEY (ingredient_id) REFERENCES ingredients (ingredient_id)
);
Notes:
I am a fan of naming primary keys after the table they are in. That way, foreign keys and primary keys usually have the same name (and you can use using if you choose).
Avoid SERIAL. GENERATED ALWAYS AS IDENTITY is now recommended.
You can inline primary key constraints (as well as other constraints).
There is not generally a need to repeat the table name in a column (other than the primary key). So, name instead of name_of_ingredient.
Using int for a monetary column is suspicious. It doesn't allow smaller units. That might work for some currencies but in general I would expect a numeric/decimal type.
My problem is that i have two tables with each table having a foreign key to the other table.
Each time , i execute the SQL file containing the creation of the two tables, it gives me an error that he doesn't find the other table. I'm working with sqlplus to execute the sql file.
Here's an example of SQL file i tried with :
create table A(
Age number(3),
name number(3) constraint A_FK references B(name))
/
create table B(
Age number(3) constraint B_FK references A(Age),
name number(3))
And even if i reverse the order, it gives the same error.
Thanks for help.
This is a problem of cycles in foreign keys. One method is to add all foreign keys after table creation (as I think the other answers propose).
You can also just do that for the first table:
create table A (
Age number(3) primary key,
name number(3)
);
create table B (
name number(3) primary key,
Age number(3),
constraint B_FK foreign key (age) references A(Age)
);
alter table B add constraint A_FK foreign key (name) references B(name);
Here is a db<>fiddle.
Notes:
Foreign keys should reference primary keys, so I added that declaration as well.
I recommend making the primary key the first column in the table.
You can also define the constraint inline for one of the tables (i.e. age number(3) constraint b_fk references a(age)).
The table column(s) that is referred by a foreign key must exist at the time when the constraint is created. Since you have some kind of cyclic reference between the tables, you need to do this in three steps:
first create one table without the foreign key
create the second table (with its foreign key)
finally add the foreign key to the first table with an alter table statement
You also need the referred column to have a unique or primary key constraint set up, otherwise you would get error ORA-02270: no matching unique or primary key for this column-list.
create table A(
age number(3) primary key,
name number(3)
);
create table B(
age number(3) constraint B_FK references A(Age),
name number(3) primary key
);
alter table A add constraint A_FK foreign key (name) references B(name);
Demo on DB Fiddle
Side note: I am quite suspicious about your sample structure, but this could be because your oversimplified it in the question.
It fails because the reference table doesn't exist yet.
Create the tables without the key first. Then drop one and recreated it with the reference. Then drop the 2nd and recreate it with the reference.
Create table first and then ADD the CONSTRAINT
ALTER TABLE A
ADD FOREIGN KEY (name) REFERENCES B(name);
ALTER TABLE B
ADD FOREIGN KEY (age) REFERENCES A(age);
I have not seen any clear, concise examples of this anywhere online.
With an existing table, how do I add a foreign key which references this table? For example:
CREATE TABLE dbo.Projects(
ProjectsID INT IDENTITY(1,1) PRIMARY KEY,
Name varchar(50)
);
How would I write a command to add a foreign key which references the same table? Can I do this in a single SQL command?
I'll show you several equivalent ways of declaring such a foreign key constraint. (This answer is intentionally repetitive to help you recognise the simple patterns for declaring constraints.)
Example: This is what we would like to end up with:
Case 1: The column holding the foreign keys already exists, but the foreign key relationship has not been declared / is not enforced yet:
In that case, run this statement:
ALTER TABLE Employee
ADD FOREIGN KEY (ManagerId) REFERENCES Employee (Id);
Case 2: The table exists, but it does not yet have the foreign key column:
ALTER TABLE Employee
ADD ManagerId INT, -- add the column; everything else is the same as with case 1
FOREIGN KEY (ManagerId) REFERENCES Employee (Id);
or more succinctly:
ALTER TABLE Employee
ADD ManagerId INT REFERENCES Employee (Id);
Case 3: The table does not exist yet.
CREATE TABLE Employee -- create the table; everything else is the same as with case 1
(
Id INT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
ManagerId INT
);
ALTER TABLE Employee
ADD FOREIGN KEY (ManagerId) REFERENCES Employee (Id);
or, declare the constraint inline, as part of the table creation:
CREATE TABLE Employee
(
Id INT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
ManagerId INT,
FOREIGN KEY (ManagerId) REFERENCES Employee (Id)
);
or even more succinctly:
CREATE TABLE Employee
(
Id INT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
ManagerId INT REFERENCES Employee (Id)
);
P.S. regarding constraint naming: Up until the previous revision of this answer, the more verbose SQL examples contained CONSTRAINT <ConstraintName> clauses for giving unique names to the foreign key constraints. After a comment by #ypercube I've decided to drop these clauses from the examples, for two reasons: Naming a constraint is an orthogonal issue to (i.e. independent from) putting the constraint in place. And having the naming out of the way allows us to focus on the the actual adding of the constraints.
In short, in order to name a constraint, precede any mention of e.g. PRIMARY KEY, REFERENCES, or FOREIGN KEY with CONSTRAINT <ConstraintName>. The way I name foreign key constraints is <TableName>_FK_<ColumnName>. I name primary key constraints in the same way, only with PK instead of FK. (Natural and other alternate keys would get the name prefix AK.)
You can add the column and constraint in one operation
ALTER TABLE dbo.Projects ADD
parentId INT NULL,
CONSTRAINT FK FOREIGN KEY(parentid) REFERENCES dbo.Projects
Optionally you could specify the PK column in brackets after the referenced table name but it is not needed here.
If the table already exists: Assuming you don't already have a column to store this data. If you do then skip this step.
ALTER TABLE [dbo].[project]
ADD [fkProjectsId] INT;
GO
ALTER TABLE [dbo].[projects]
ADD CONSTRAINT [FK_Projects_ProjectsId] FOREIGN KEY ([fkProjectsId]) REFERENCES [dbo].[Projects] ([ProjectsID])
GO
I was looking for info on foreign keys.... AGAIN! ... and happened to notice on webschools.com they have different examples of the same thing. for the foreign key example they have
CREATE TABLE Orders
(
O_Id int NOT NULL,
OrderNo int NOT NULL,
P_Id int,
PRIMARY KEY (O_Id),
FOREIGN KEY (P_Id) REFERENCES Persons(P_Id)
)
CREATE TABLE Orders
(
O_Id int NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
OrderNo int NOT NULL,
P_Id int FOREIGN KEY REFERENCES Persons(P_Id)
)
CREATE TABLE Orders
(
O_Id int NOT NULL,
OrderNo int NOT NULL,
P_Id int,
PRIMARY KEY (O_Id),
CONSTRAINT fk_PerOrders FOREIGN KEY (P_Id)
REFERENCES Persons(P_Id)
)
now..........
what's the difference?...
How do I know which one I'm suppose to use for my database? I have a feeling this will help resolve a lot of the confusion I'm having with SQL...
No difference in effect: They achieve exactly the same thing.
I prefer the in-line version, because it puts the fk definition as close to the column definition as possible.
There's a 3rd way - a separate alter table statement (which I think is the "official" way):
alter table orders
add contraint fk_PerOrders
foreign key p_id references persons(p_id);
You may find some databases don't support one version or the other.
All of them are doing same thing. Use the one which you feel is easy to understand.
All do same (three ways):
In first, you first defined P_Id as int then defined foreign key constraint.
In second, P_Id int FOREIGN KEY REFERENCES Persons(P_Id). P_Id is defecation and foreign key constraint defecation in same line.
In third, a foreign key constraint name is also give fk_PerOrders. that can be useful later when you wants to drop constraint. e.g.
ALTER TABLE Orders
DROP FOREIGN KEY fk_PerOrders
Its always good practice to give name to a constraint.
Naive question with the answer "No" , I believe, but still would like to ask.
Table_parent
pk_parent_surrogate
parent_natural_unique_key
Table_child
pk_child_surrogate
child_natural_NOT_unique
Is that true that the only possible declarative relationship among main database vendors is
pk_parent_surrogate ----------< pk_child_surrogate
and we can't have declarative constraint or foreign key in other words for pair
parent_natural_unique_key -------< child_natural_NOT_unique
My answer here is based on my MS SQL knowledge - although I believe the same answer is correct for ANSI standards as well, i'm not 100% sure...
YES - you CAN do this as long as you've got a unique constraint on the column in your parent table that you want to use as the anchor column for the key.
You can create a FOREIGN KEY constraint as part
of the table definition when you create a table.
If a table already exists, you can add a
FOREIGN KEY constraint, provided that the
FOREIGN KEY constraint is linked to an existing
PRIMARY KEY constraints or UNIQUE constraint in
another, or the same, table. A table can contain
multiple FOREIGN KEY constraints.
And as an example of this sort of key...
use tempdb
CREATE TABLE parent(
pk int identity primary key,
candidate_key int unique not null)
CREATE TABLE child(
pk int identity primary key,
join_key int references parent(candidate_key))
See here for more information.
Try code like this:
create table testunique (id int identity(1,1) primary key, otherid int)
go
create unique index ixOther on testunique(otherid)
go
create table testFK (id int identity(1,1) primary key, someid int)
go
alter table testFK add constraint fkTest foreign key (someid) references testunique(otherid)
Rob