"Mark C. Stock" <mcstockX_at_Xenquery .com> wrote in message
news:SbSdnR0ccbBME6rcRVn-sQ_at_comcast.com...
> so, if you're offended, sorry. but if you're up for a lively discussion,
why
> not post a structure that you feel requires more than one column for the
> PK -- either we'll see each other's side better, or you'll have the
> satisfaction of proving me wrong ;-)
A possibility for you. We have an helpdesk app. It contains, not entirely
surprisingly, an inventory table. That table contains the fields MODEL and
SERIAL#, we use (MODEL,SERIAL#) as the PK. I'm not prepared to guarantee
uniqueness of the serial# across manufacturers and over time. I am prepared
to gurantee the uniqueness of SERIAL# across the same model from the same
manufacturer over time. I'll grant you that we could use an artificial key
(and in fact it would be my preference), never the less for the design of
the app the important thing is that it is an item of inventory (not that it
is a laptop made by manufacturer y or a router made by company Z).
--
Niall Litchfield
Oracle DBA
http://www.niall.litchfield.dial.pipex.com
Received on Sun Sep 05 2004 - 14:19:14 CDT
