constraint check against values of foreign key - sql

I have these two tables
Table: Guards
ID int
Name varchar
Rank int
Table: Squads
SquadId
Leader
SquadName
The Leader column points to the ID column in the Guard table and I'm trying to create a constraint that checks if the Rank column linked to the guard id provided as the leader is a specific value (in this case 1)
Is this possible or do I have to use a trigger?

You need to add a CHECK constraint. I'd wrap the constraint into a function since you need to check another table's value.
CREATE FUNCTION CheckLeaderRank
(#LeaderID INTEGER)
RETURNS INTEGER
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE #value INTEGER;
DECLARE #MinimumRank INTEGER = 3;
SET #value = CASE WHEN (SELECT RANK FROM Guards WITH(NOLOCK) WHERE Id = #LeaderID) >= #MinimumRank THEN 1 ELSE 0 END
RETURN #value
END
The function will check if the guard's Rank is high enough : make sure to set #MinimumRank to the proper value or, even better, to fetch it from another table.
Now add the constraint to your Squads table.
ALTER TABLE Squads
ADD CONSTRAINT chk_rank CHECK (dbo.CheckLeaderRank(i) = 1)

Related

Check constraint to prevent 2 or more rows from having numeric value of 1

I have a SQL table with a column called [applied], only one row from all rows can be applied ( have the value of 1) all other rows should have the value 0
Is there a check constraint that i can write to force such a case?
If you use null instead of 0, it will be much easier.
Have a CHECK constraint to make sure the (non-null) value = 1. Also have a UNIQUE constraint to only allow a single value 1.
create table testtable (
id int primary key,
applied int,
constraint applied_unique unique (applied),
constraint applied_eq_1 check (applied = 1)
);
Core ANSI SQL, i.e. expected to work with any database.
Most databases support filtered indexes:
create unique index unq_t_applied on t(applied) where applied = 1;
To know exactly how to write trigger that will help you an info of a database you use is needed.
You wil need a trigger where this will be your test control:
SELECT COUNT(APPLIED)
FROM TEST
WHERE APPLIED = 1
If it is > 0 then do not allow insert else allow.
While this can be done with triggers and constraints, they probably require an index. Instead, consider a join table.
create table things_applied (
id smallint primary key default 1,
thing_id bigint references things(id) not null,
check(id = 1)
);
Because the primary key is unique, there can only ever be one row.
The first is activated with an insert.
insert into things_applied (thing_id) values (1);
Change it by updating the row.
update things_applied set thing_id = 2;
To deactivate completely, delete the row.
delete things_applied;
To find the active row, join with the table.
select t.*
from things t
join things_applied ta on ta.thing_id = t.id
To check if it's active at all, count the rows.
select count(id) as active
from things_applied
Try it.

Having troubles with Identity field of SQL-SERVER

I'm doing a school project about a school theme where I need to create some tables for Students, Classes, Programmes...
I want to add a Group to determined classes with an auto increment in group_id however I wanted the group_id variable to reset if I change any of those attributes(Classes_id,courses_acronym,year_Semesters) how can I reset it every time any of those change??
Here is my table:
CREATE TABLE Classes_Groups(
Classes_id varchar(2),
Group_id INT IDENTITY(1,1),
courses_acronym varchar(4),
year_Semesters varchar(5),
FOREIGN KEY (Classes_id, year_Semesters,courses_acronym) REFERENCES Classes(id,year_Semesters, courses_acronym),
PRIMARY KEY(Classes_id,courses_acronym,year_Semesters,Group_id)
);
Normally, you do not (need to) reset the identity column of a table. An identity column is used to create unique values for every single record in a table.
So you want to generate entries in your groups table based on new entries in your classes table. You might create a trigger on your classes table for that purpose.
Since Group_id is already unique by itself (because of its IDENTITY), you do not need other fields in the primary key at all. Instead, you may create a separate UNIQUE constraint for the combination (Classes_id, courses_acronym, year_Semesters) if you need it.
And if the id field of your classes table is an IDENTITY column too, you could define a primary key in your classes table solely on that id field. And then your foreign key constraint in your new groups table can only include that Classes_id field.)
So much for now. I guess that your database design needs some more additional tuning and tweaking. ;)
where are you setting the values from?, you can have a stored proc and in your query have the columns have an initial value set when stored proc is hit assuming there are values at the beginning
.Then use an IF statement.
declare #initial_Classes_id varchar(2) = --initial value inserted
declare #initial_courses_acronym varchar(4) = --initial value inserted
declare #initial_year_Semesters varchar(5) = --initial value inserted
declare #compare_Classes_id varchar(2) = (select top 1 Classes_id from Classes_Groups order by --PK column desc for last insert); l would add Dateadded and then order with last insert date
declare #compare_courses_acronym varchar(2) = (select top 1 Classes_id from Classes_Groups where Classes_id = #compare_Classes_id);
declare #compare_year_Semesters varchar(2) = (select top 1 Classes_id from Classes_Groups where Classes_id = #compare_Classes_id);
IF (#initial_Classes_id != #compare_Classes_id OR #initial_courses_acronym != #compare_courses_acronym OR #initial_year_Semesters != #compare_year_Semesters)
BEGIN
DBCC CHECKIDENT ('Group_id', RESEED, 1)
Insert into Classes_Groups (courses_acronym,year_Semesters)
values (
courses_acronym,
year_Semesters
)
END
ELSE
BEGIN
Insert into Classes_Groups (courses_acronym,year_Semesters)
values (
courses_acronym,
year_Semesters
)
END
NB: would advice to use int on the primary key. Unless you have a specific purpose of doing so.

Unique constraint on two columns

I have a table called QuestionMultipleChoice that has the following structure:
ID int,
QID int,
Text varchar(200),
CorrectAnswer bit
I'm wanting to establish a unique constraint that consists of QID and CorrectAnswer. However, I only want to limit where CorrectAnswer is '1'.
CONSTRAINT QuestionMultipleChoice_UC UNIQUE (QuestionID, CorrectAnswer)
If you set CorrectAnswer to null instead of 0, then a unique index on (QID,CorrectAnswer) will only consider rows where CorrectAnswer is 1.
From the SQL-92 standard
"A unique constraint is satisfied if and only if no two rows in a
table have the same non-null values in the unique columns. In
addition, if the unique constraint was defined with PRIMARY KEY, then
it requires that none of the values in the specified column or columns
be the null value."
You can do this using a Function Based Check Constraint or a Trigger.
Something like this (I might have missed on the syntax):
A function that returns the number of correct answers for a question:
CREATE FUNCTION CheckAnswer(pQuestionId int)
RETURNS int
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE #retval int
SELECT #retval = COUNT(*) FROM QuestionMultipleChoice c where c.QuestionId = pQuestionId and c.CorrectAnswer = 1
RETURN #retval
END;
A constraint that uses the function to check whether this question has only one correct answer.
The check for CorrectAnswer = 0 is for a slight optimization:
ALTER TABLE QuestionMultipleChoice
ADD CONSTRAINT chkAnswer CHECK (CorrectAnswer = 0 OR dbo.CheckAnswer(QuestionId) <= 1);

Update value on insert into table in SQL Server

I am working with SQL Server - on inserting into a table, I have a unique constraint on a table column id. There is a possibility that when inserting, the value going into the id column is 0. This will cause an error.
Is it possible to update this id to another value during the insert if the id value is 0? This is to prevent the error and to give it a valid value.
Possibly a trigger?
A trigger is one way, but you may want to use a filtered index (CREATE UNIQUE INDEX, not as a table constraint) to ignore zero value. This way, you don't have to worry about what value to put there
Alternatively, if you want to populate it from another column, you can have a computed column with a unique constraint.
ALTER TABLE whatever
ADD ComputedUniqueCol = CASE WHEN Id = 0 THEN OtherCol ELSE Id END
If that's your primary key you can specify it as IDENTITY. Then it should generate a value for itself based on seed and increment (the default is seed=1 and default=1) so you don't have to worry about it.
CREATE TABLE MyTable
(
ID int PRIMARY KEY IDENTITY,
...
)
create an "instead of" trigger and check for the value on the ID.
CREATE trigger checkID
on YOUR_TABLE
instead of insert
as
begin
declare #id int
select #id=id from inserted
if (#id==0) begin
--DO YOUR LOGIC HERE AND THEN INSERT
end else begin
insert into DESTINATION_TABLE (VALUES)
SELECT VALUES FROM INSERTED
end
end

Constraint for only one record marked as default

How could I set a constraint on a table so that only one of the records has its isDefault bit field set to 1?
The constraint is not table scope, but one default per set of rows, specified by a FormID.
Use a unique filtered index
On SQL Server 2008 or higher you can simply use a unique filtered index
CREATE UNIQUE INDEX IX_TableName_FormID_isDefault
ON TableName(FormID)
WHERE isDefault = 1
Where the table is
CREATE TABLE TableName(
FormID INT NOT NULL,
isDefault BIT NOT NULL
)
For example if you try to insert many rows with the same FormID and isDefault set to 1 you will have this error:
Cannot insert duplicate key row in object 'dbo.TableName' with unique
index 'IX_TableName_FormID_isDefault'. The duplicate key value is (1).
Source: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc280372.aspx
Here's a modification of Damien_The_Unbeliever's solution that allows one default per FormID.
CREATE VIEW form_defaults
AS
SELECT FormID
FROM whatever
WHERE isDefault = 1
GO
CREATE UNIQUE CLUSTERED INDEX ix_form_defaults on form_defaults (FormID)
GO
But the serious relational folks will tell you this information should just be in another table.
CREATE TABLE form
FormID int NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY
DefaultWhateverID int FOREIGN KEY REFERENCES Whatever(ID)
From a normalization perspective, this would be an inefficient way of storing a single fact.
I would opt to hold this information at a higher level, by storing (in a different table) a foreign key to the identifier of the row which is considered to be the default.
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[Foo](
[Id] [int] NOT NULL,
CONSTRAINT [PK_Foo] PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED
(
[Id] ASC
) ON [PRIMARY]
) ON [PRIMARY]
GO
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[DefaultSettings](
[DefaultFoo] [int] NULL
) ON [PRIMARY]
GO
ALTER TABLE [dbo].[DefaultSettings] WITH CHECK ADD CONSTRAINT [FK_DefaultSettings_Foo] FOREIGN KEY([DefaultFoo])
REFERENCES [dbo].[Foo] ([Id])
GO
ALTER TABLE [dbo].[DefaultSettings] CHECK CONSTRAINT [FK_DefaultSettings_Foo]
GO
You could use an insert/update trigger.
Within the trigger after an insert or update, if the count of rows with isDefault = 1 is more than 1, then rollback the transaction.
CREATE VIEW vOnlyOneDefault
AS
SELECT 1 as Lock
FROM <underlying table>
WHERE Default = 1
GO
CREATE UNIQUE CLUSTERED INDEX IX_vOnlyOneDefault on vOnlyOneDefault (Lock)
GO
You'll need to have the right ANSI settings turned on for this.
I don't know about SQLServer.But if it supports Function-Based Indexes like in Oracle, I hope this can be translated, if not, sorry.
You can do an index like this on suposed that default value is 1234, the column is DEFAULT_COLUMN and ID_COLUMN is the primary key:
CREATE
UNIQUE
INDEX only_one_default
ON my_table
( DECODE(DEFAULT_COLUMN, 1234, -1, ID_COLUMN) )
This DDL creates an unique index indexing -1 if the value of DEFAULT_COLUMN is 1234 and ID_COLUMN in any other case. Then, if two columns have DEFAULT_COLUMN value, it raises an exception.
The question implies to me that you have a primary table that has some child records and one of those child records will be the default record. Using address and a separate default table here is an example of how to make that happen using third normal form. Of course I don't know if it's valuable to answer something that is so old but it struck my fancy.
--drop table dev.defaultAddress;
--drop table dev.addresses;
--drop table dev.people;
CREATE TABLE [dev].[people](
[Id] [int] identity primary key,
name char(20)
)
GO
CREATE TABLE [dev].[Addresses](
id int identity primary key,
peopleId int foreign key references dev.people(id),
address varchar(100)
) ON [PRIMARY]
GO
CREATE TABLE [dev].[defaultAddress](
id int identity primary key,
peopleId int foreign key references dev.people(id),
addressesId int foreign key references dev.addresses(id))
go
create unique index defaultAddress on dev.defaultAddress (peopleId)
go
create unique index idx_addr_id_person on dev.addresses(peopleid,id);
go
ALTER TABLE dev.defaultAddress
ADD CONSTRAINT FK_Def_People_Address
FOREIGN KEY(peopleID, addressesID)
REFERENCES dev.Addresses(peopleId, id)
go
insert into dev.people (name)
select 'Bill' union
select 'John' union
select 'Harry'
insert into dev.Addresses (peopleid, address)
select 1, '123 someplace' union
select 1,'work place' union
select 2,'home address' union
select 3,'some address'
insert into dev.defaultaddress (peopleId, addressesid)
select 1,1 union
select 2,3
-- so two home addresses are default now
-- try adding another default address to Bill and you get an error
select * from dev.people
join dev.addresses on people.id = addresses.peopleid
left join dev.defaultAddress on defaultAddress.peopleid = people.id and defaultaddress.addressesid = addresses.id
insert into dev.defaultaddress (peopleId, addressesId)
select 1,2
GO
You could do it through an instead of trigger, or if you want it as a constraint create a constraint that references a function that checks for a row that has the default set to 1
EDIT oops, needs to be <=
Create table mytable(id1 int, defaultX bit not null default(0))
go
create Function dbo.fx_DefaultExists()
returns int as
Begin
Declare #Ret int
Set #ret = 0
Select #ret = count(1) from mytable
Where defaultX = 1
Return #ret
End
GO
Alter table mytable add
CONSTRAINT [CHK_DEFAULT_SET] CHECK
(([dbo].fx_DefaultExists()<=(1)))
GO
Insert into mytable (id1, defaultX) values (1,1)
Insert into mytable (id1, defaultX) values (2,1)
This is a fairly complex process that cannot be handled through a simple constraint.
We do this through a trigger. However before you write the trigger you need to be able to answer several things:
do we want to fail the insert if a default exists, change it to 0 instead of 1 or change the existing default to 0 and leave this one as 1?
what do we want to do if the default record is deleted and other non default records are still there? Do we make one the default, if so how do we determine which one?
You will also need to be very, very careful to make the trigger handle multiple row processing. For instance a client might decide that all of the records of a particular type should be the default. You wouldn't change a million records one at a time, so this trigger needs to be able to handle that. It also needs to handle that without looping or the use of a cursor (you really don't want the type of transaction discussed above to take hours locking up the table the whole time).
You also need a very extensive tesing scenario for this trigger before it goes live. You need to test:
adding a record with no default and it is the first record for that customer
adding a record with a default and it is the first record for that customer
adding a record with no default and it is the not the first record for that customer
adding a record with a default and it is the not the first record for that customer
Updating a record to have the default when no other record has it (assuming you don't require one record to always be set as the deafault)
Updating a record to remove the default
Deleting the record with the deafult
Deleting a record without the default
Performing a mass insert with multiple situations in the data including two records which both have isdefault set to 1 and all of the situations tested when running individual record inserts
Performing a mass update with multiple situations in the data including two records which both have isdefault set to 1 and all of the situations tested when running individual record updates
Performing a mass delete with multiple situations in the data including two records which both have isdefault set to 1 and all of the situations tested when running individual record deletes
#Andy Jones gave an answer above closest to mine, but bearing in mind the Rule of Three, I placed the logic directly in the stored proc that updates this table. This was my simple solution. If I need to update the table from elsewhere, I will move the logic to a trigger. The one default rule applies to each set of records specified by a FormID and a ConfigID:
ALTER proc [dbo].[cpForm_UpdateLinkedReport]
#reportLinkId int,
#defaultYN bit,
#linkName nvarchar(150)
as
if #defaultYN = 1
begin
declare #formId int, #configId int
select #formId = FormID, #configId = ConfigID from csReportLink where ReportLinkID = #reportLinkId
update csReportLink set DefaultYN = 0 where isnull(ConfigID, #configId) = #configId and FormID = #formId
end
update
csReportLink
set
DefaultYN = #defaultYN,
LinkName = #linkName
where
ReportLinkID = #reportLinkId