Column to track mu;ltiple foriegn keys

From: Brian Tkatch <SPAMBLOCK.Maxwell_Smart_at_ThePentagon.com.SPAMBLOCK>
Date: Sat, 21 Jul 2001 21:25:22 GMT
Message-ID: <3b424337.953937640@news.alt.net>

I have a table that is a hash of three item ids. The first two ids cannot be null and are foreign keyed to specific tables. The third id is not always there. If it is, it must reference an id from one of a few tables.

Item_A

---

Id
Name

Item_B

---

Id
Name

Special_1

---

Id
Name

Special_2

---

Id
Name

Special_3

---

Id
Name

Hash_Table

---

Item_A_Id (NOT NULL FK)
Item_B_Id (NOT NULL FK)
Special _Id (NULL FK)

The third column is tricky. It can point to one of many tables.

I see two possibilities,

1. Have a foreign key for each possible Special.
2. Have one column for each special, and another column to specify which special is being referenced.

Any ideas?

Brian Received on Sat Jul 21 2001 - 16:25:22 CDT