> 1.many people make an extra id field and choose this id field to be the > p-key, > but then the same person can be present twice in the table (with different > id fields), the id in itself has no real meaning > 2.or u can choose the "natural" key for each person, lets say a name and the > birthdate of a person make that person unique, so lets make (the whole name > en the birthdate) the primary-key; but then if another table X wants to > refer this table of persons using a foreign key, this foreign key exists out > of 3 fields, which smells redundant
i solved it for now using a p-key (the short id) and a a-key (the natural key), so integrity is ok and refences are short. > > u have often this choice in determining the primary keys, > > plz give me your opinions, options i overlooked or usefull comments. > > ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 4: Don't 'kill -9' the postmaster
