foreign key w/o constraint

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foreign key w/o constraint

Snargables

SSCrazy Eights

Points: 8855
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January 10, 2017 at 1:36 pm

#316823

Is there a way to create a foreign key w/o the constaint portion in sql server?

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Lowell SSC Guru Points: 323518 More actions · Answer 1

you could create it WITH NO CHECK so it does not validate the existing data, and would be untrusted...but why would you want to do that?

referential integrity is a good thing.

Lowell

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ZZartin SSC-Dedicated Points: 30920 More actions · Answer 2

There's certainly nothing stopping you from using columns in one able to reference another table without making it an official foreign key. You would just have to rely on your application to maintain it as opposed to the database engine which may or may not be what you want.

Luis Cazares SSC Guru Points: 183706 More actions · Answer 3

ZZartin (1/10/2017)
There's certainly nothing stopping you from using columns in one able to reference another table without making it an official foreign key. You would just have to rely on your application to maintain it as opposed to the database engine which may or may not be what you want.

And keep fixing the data over and over again when the application is not able to maintain the data integrity.

Luis C.
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Phil Parkin SSC Guru Points: 246964 More actions · Answer 4

Luis Cazares (1/10/2017)
ZZartin (1/10/2017)
There's certainly nothing stopping you from using columns in one able to reference another table without making it an official foreign key. You would just have to rely on your application to maintain it as opposed to the database engine which may or may not be what you want.
And keep fixing the data over and over again when the application is not able to maintain the data integrity.

No one would ever do that, would they? :hehe:

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