I am trying to add a foreign key to the table STUDENTS from the table PROGRAMS
ALTER TABLE COLLEGE.dbo.STUDENTS
ADD FOREIGN KEY(ProgramId) REFERENCES
PROGRAMS(ProgramId);
But it giving the following error :
Foreign key 'ProgramId' references invalid column 'ProgramId' in referencing table 'STUDENTS'
Not sure what i am doing wrong here any tip or solution would be a great help.
The column needs to exist in the table before it can be used for a foreign key reference. So I assume you intend something like:
ALTER TABLE COLLEGE.dbo.STUDENTS
ADD ProgramId INT; -- have to guess at the type
ALTER TABLE COLLEGE.dbo.STUDENTS
ADD FOREIGN KEY (ProgramId) REFERENCES
PROGRAMS(ProgramId);
You appear to want to add a column with a related foreign key.
In SQL Server, you can do this in a single commad, like so:
ALTER TABLE COLLEGE.dbo.STUDENTS
ADD ProgramId INTEGER
CONSTRAINT StudentsProgramIdFk FOREIGN KEY(ProgramId) REFERENCES PROGRAMS(ProgramId);
You should adjust the datatype of the column to your exact need. The key point is that the new column must have the same datatype as the column it references (that is PROGRAMS(ProgramId)).
I have a table:
ID Name ParentID
== ==== ========
1 A Null
2 B 1
3 C 2
so A is parent of B, and B is parent of C.
I need to create a constraint for column(ParentID) which does not accept a number is not exist in column (ID).
How I would do that?
You need to add Foreign Key.
ALTER TABLE table1
ADD CONSTRAINT fk_parent_id
FOREIGN KEY (parent_id) REFERENCES table1(id);
You can also create a foreign key using SSMS design as shown below. Expand table and right click on Keys - New Foreign key
Now click on the browse button of relationship and specify the colum nane of primary and foreign key table as shown below.
This is one of the way and you might select the preferred way either using query or design for creating the foreign key relationships between tables in Sql Server.
I'll post only the main part. I have two tables, each one has to have the PK of the other as a FK.
CREATE TABLE apartment
(
cod_apartment INT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
cod_offer INT NOT NULL
);
CREATE TABLE offer
(
cod_offer INT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
cod_apartment INT NOT NULL
);
First I inserted the values on both tables and it was working, I could even search using "select * from...". But then I tried to add the foreign key:
This worked.
ALTER TABLE offer
ADD FOREIGN KEY (cod_apartment ) REFERENCES apartment;
And this not.
ALTER TABLE apartment
ADD FOREIGN KEY (cod_offer) REFERENCES offer;
This is the error message:
The ALTER TABLE statement conflicted with the FOREIGN KEY constraint "FK__apartment__cod_offer__6383C8BA". The conflict occurred in database "kleber_apartment", table "dbo.offer", column 'cod_offer'.
The problem is, every time I try to execute, the FK name changes. And this FK actually doesn't exist. I already dropped both tables and tried to insert the values again, but the same happens.
What could be?
That means you're trying to add a foreign key when existing data doesn't obey that constraint. So you have a record in your apartment table where the cod_offer column does not match any value in the cod_apartment table.
Adding a foreign key not only constrains future data, but it requires that any existing data must also follow the rule.
And regarding the 6383C8BA, whenever you add a constraint without giving it a name, SQL Server picks one for you. Personally, I'd recommend something like:
alter table dbo.apartment
add constraint FK_apartment__cod_offer
foreign key (cod_offer) references dbo.offer (cod_offer);
This lets you define names the way you want, and is a little more clear about what you're actually building.
I have a database from previous project that I want to use in another project, from security reasons I need to update the IDs of one of the table. Problem is that the table is heavily referenced by foreign keys from other tables:
CREATE TABLE "table_table" (
"id" serial NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
"created" timestamp with time zone NOT NULL,
);
CREATE TABLE "table_photo" (
"id" serial NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
"table_id" integer NOT NULL REFERENCES "table_table" ("id") DEFERRABLE INITIALLY DEFERRED,
);
Now if I change the id on table_table the reference from table_photo won't work.
I will probably use something like this to change the IDs:
UPDATE table_table SET id = id + 15613;
I have read somewhere that I could use ON UPDATE CASCADE constraints to do this but I am not very sure how to use it.
btw: I am using Django ORM.
Get the constraint name with \d "table_photo", which shows:
Foreign-key constraints:
"table_photo_table_id_fkey" FOREIGN KEY (table_id) REFERENCES table_table(id) DEFERRABLE INITIALLY DEFERRED
Then replace it with a constraint that has on update cascade:
ALTER TABLE "table_photo"
DROP CONSTRAINT "table_photo_table_id_fkey",
ADD CONSTRAINT "table_photo_table_id_fkey"
FOREIGN KEY ("table_id")
REFERENCES "table_table"
ON UPDATE CASCADE
DEFERRABLE INITIALLY DEFERRED;
Now when you do your UPDATE, referenced row IDs are automatically updated. Adding an index on "table_photo"."table_id" will help a lot.
This can be slow for big tables though. An alternative if you have large tables is to do it in a couple of stages. For table A with field id that's referenced by table B's field A_id:
Add a new column, new_id, to A, with a UNIQUE constraint. Leave it nullable.
Add a new column, A_new_id to table B, giving it a foreign key constraint to A(new_id).
Populate A.new_id with the new values
Do an
UPDATE B
SET A_new_id = A.new_id
FROM A
WHERE B.A_id = A.id;
to do a joined update, setting the new ID values in B.A_new_id to match.
Drop the column B.A_id and rename B.A_new_id to B.A_id.
Drop the column A.id and rename A.new_id to A.id
Create a PRIMARY KEY constraint on the renamed A.id, USING the index created automatically before.
It's a lot more complicated, especially since for big tables you usually want to do each of these steps in batches.
If this seems too complicated, just do it with a cascading foreign key constraint like above.
I need to make some changes to a SQL Server 2008 database.
This requires the creation of a new table, and inserting a foreign key in the new table that references the Primary key of an already existing table. So I want to set up a relationship between my new tblTwo, which references the primary key of tblOne.
However when I tried to do this (through SQL Server Management Studio) I got the following error:
The columns in table 'tblOne' do not
match an existing primary key or
UNIQUE constraint
I'm not really sure what this means, and I was wondering if there was any way around it?
It means that the primary key in tblOne hasn't been properly declared - you need to go to tblOne and add the PRIMARY KEY constraint back onto it.
If you're sure that tblOne does have a PRIMARY KEY constraint, then maybe there are multiple tblOne tables in your DB, belonging to different schemas, and your references clause in your FK constraint is picking the wrong one.
If there's a composite key (which your comment would indicate), then you have to include both columns in your foreign key reference also. Note that a table can't have multiple primary keys - but if it has a composite key, you'll see a key symbol next to each column that is part of the primary key.
If you have a composite key the order is important when creating a FK, and sometimes the order is not how it is displayed.
What I do is go to the Keys section of the table1 and select script primary key as create to clipboard and then create FK using the order as shown in script
I've had this situation that led me to this topic. Same error but another cause. Maybe it will help someone.
Table1
ColA (PK)
ColB (PK)
ColC
Table2
ID (PK)
ColA
COLB
When trying to create foreign key in Table2 I've choose values from combobox in reverse order
Table1.ColB = Table2.ColB
Table1.ColA = Table2.ColA
This was throwing me an error like in topic name. Creating FK keeping order of columns in Primary key table as they are, made error disappear.
Stupid, but.. :)
If you still get that error after you have followed all advice from the above answers and everything looks right.
One way to fix it is by Removing your Primary keys for both tables, Save, Refresh, and add them again.
Then try to add your relationship again.
This Error happened with me When I tried to add foreign key constraint starting from PrimaryKey Table
Simpy go to other table and and create this foreign key constraint from there (foreign key Table)
This issue caught me out, I was adding the relationship on the wrong table. So if you're trying to add a relationship in table A to table B, try adding the relationship in table B to table A.
That looks like you are trying to create a foreign key in tblTwo that does not match (or participate) with any primary key or unique index in tblOne.
Check this link on MSDN regarding it. Here you have another link with a practical case.
EDIT:
Answwering to your comment, I understand you mean there are 2 fields in the primary key (which makes it a composite). In SQL it is not possible to have 2 primary keys on the same table.
IMHO, a foreign key field should always refer to a single register in the referenced table (i.e. the whole primary key in your case). That means you need to put both fields of the tblOne primary key in tblTwo before creating the foreign key.
Anyway, I have investigated a bit over the Internet and it seems SQL Server 2008 (as some prior versions and other RDBMS) gives you the possibility to reference only part of the primary key as long as this part is a candidate key (Not Null and Unique) and you create an unique constraint on it.
I am not sure you can use that in your case, but check this link for more information on it.
I have found that the column names must match.
Example:
So if tblOne has id called categoryId a reference in tblTwo must also be called categoryId.
_tblname, primary key name, foreign key_
tblOne, "categoryId", none
tblTwo, "exampleId", "categoryId"
I noticed this when trying to create foreign key between 2 tables that both had the column name "id" as primary key.
If nothing helps, then this could be the reason:
Considering this case:
Table A:
Column 1 (Primary Key)
Column 2 (Primary Key)
Column 3
Column 4
Table B:
Column a (Primary Key)
Column b
Column c
when you are defining a dependency B to A, then you are forced to respect the order in which the primaries are defined.
That's mean your dependency should look like this:
Table A Table B
Column 1 Column b
Column 2 Column c
AND NOT:
Table A Table B
Column 2 Column c
Column 1 Column b
then this will lead to the error you are encountering.
I've found another way to get this error. This can also happen if you are trying to make a recursive foreign key (a foreign key to the primary key in the same table) in design view in SQL Management Studio. If you haven't yet saved the table with the primary key it will return this message. Simply save the table then it will allow you to create the foreign key.
If you have data in your tables this could be the issue.
In my case I had some data in the Account table that I loaded at 3 pm, and some data in Contact table that I loaded at 3:10 pm, so Contact table had some values that weren't in my Account table yet.
I ended up deleting these values from the contact table and then managed to add a key without any problems.
Kindly also see that there are no existing data inside the table where the primary key is defined while setting the foreign key with another table column.
this was the cause of the error in my case.
I had to take backup empty the table set the relationship and then upload the data back.
sharing my experience
Was using ms sql smss