On 07/29/2012 08:08 PM, Dan wrote:
Mark Stanton wrote:
Keys are intended for the internal workings of the database, they are
not meant to be
used like this.
What you want is the WHERE clause, or occasionally the HAVING clause,
matching or
excluding rows based on their data.
Keys are NOT data and should not be used as such.
Regards Mark Stanton One small step for mankind...
I have a table, Reading, that contains three fields: ID, Date,
and Meter. Date is the
date the meter is read, and Meter is the meter reading.
I want to know how much electricity (KWH used) I have used each
month. The query below will provide that information:
SELECT "Ending"."Date", "Ending"."Meter" -"Beginning"."Meter" AS "KWH
Used" FROM "Power". "Reading" AS "Beginning" LEFT JOIN "Power".
"Reading" AS" Ending" ON "Ending"."ID" =1 + "Beginning"."ID"
Try the following
SELECT date, meter
FROM Reading
WHERE date = initial date OR date = ending date (date = '4/1/2012' OR
date = '4/30/2012' - using correct date format for your system)
Perhaps you are right about keys being intended for the internal
workings of the database. While I don't have an example of one key
being the multiple of the other key, it is possible. It just might not
have any practical applications.
Keys are intended in an relational database to uniquely identify each
row of data. While often being integers any unique string or group of
columns can be a key. For example, if there is only one date entry for
each date you could use the date as a key. The reason integers are
typically used is that they allow the possible multiple entry of a date
in a table because each entry would assigned a different integer. The
key value id = 100 has no required mathematical relation to the key
value id = 200, mostly likely all this means is there are 100 entries
since 100th entry. Otherwise there may no connection be the two entries.
For example, two companies could have the same name - Fred's Wholesale
Produce but be located in different states (Kentucky and Indiana for
example). A key of company name and state is possible but often awkward
to use when accessing other tables such as orders or purchases. Integer
id's allow for accessing other tables by using on field which happens to
a unique integer.
An Orders table might have the following initial columns: id, id_vendor,
id_PO_items PO, Date etc. The id is a unique key for the Orders table,
the id_vendor refers to the id in a separate vendor table which might
have the vendor contact information. The Id_PO_items might refer to a
table which lists each item order with appropriate vendor information.
--Dan
--
Jay Lozier
[email protected]
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