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Working with keys

If your DBMS supports primary and foreign keys, you can work with the keys in PowerBuilder.

Why you should use keys

If your DBMS supports them, you should use primary and foreign keys to enforce the referential integrity of your database. That way you can rely on the DBMS to make sure that only valid values are entered for certain columns instead of having to write code to enforce valid values.

For example, say you have two tables called Department and Employee. The Department table contains the column Dept_Head_ID, which holds the ID of the department's manager. You want to make sure that only valid employee IDs are entered in this column. The only valid values for Dept_Head_ID in the Department table are values for Emp_ID in the Employee table.

To enforce this kind of relationship, you define a foreign key for Dept_Head_ID that points to the Employee table. With this key in place, the DBMS disallows any value for Dept_Head_ID that does not match an Emp_ID in the Employee table.

For more about primary and foreign keys, consult a book about relational database design or your DBMS documentation.

What you can do in the Database painter

You can work with keys in the following ways:

  • Look at existing primary and foreign keys

  • Open all tables that depend on a particular primary key

  • Open the table containing the primary key used by a particular foreign key

  • Create, alter, and drop keys

For the most part, you work with keys the same way for each DBMS that supports keys, but there are some DBMS-specific issues. For complete information about using keys with your DBMS, see your DBMS documentation.

Viewing keys

Keys can be viewed in several ways:

  • In the expanded tree view of a table in the Objects view

  • As icons connected by lines to a table in the Object Layout view

In the following picture, the sales_order table has three keys:

  • A primary key (on id)

  • Two foreign keys (on cust_id and fin_code_id)


If you cannot see the lines

If the color of your window background makes it difficult to see the lines for the keys and indexes, you can set the colors for each component of the Database painter's graphical table representation, including keys and indexes. For information, see Modifying database preferences.

Opening related tables

When working with tables containing keys, you can easily open related tables.

To open the table that a particular foreign key references:

  1. Display the foreign key pop-up menu.

  2. Select Open Referenced Table.

To open all tables referencing a particular primary key:

  1. Display the primary key pop-up menu.

  2. Select Open Dependent Table(s).

    PowerBuilder opens and expands all tables in the database containing foreign keys that reference the selected primary key.

Defining primary keys

If your DBMS supports primary keys, you can define them in PowerBuilder.

To create a primary key:

  1. Do one of the following:

    • Highlight the table for which you want to create a primary key and click the Create Primary Key drop-down toolbar button in PainterBar1.

    • Select Object>Insert>Primary Key from the main menu or New>Primary Key from the pop-up menu.

    • Expand the table's tree view, right-click Primary Key, and select New Primary Key from the pop-up menu.

    The Primary Key properties display in the Object Details view.

  2. Select one or more columns for the primary key.

    Columns that are allowed in a primary key

    Only a column that does not allow null values can be included as a column in a primary key definition. If you choose a column that allows null values, you get a DBMS error when you save the table. In DBMSs that allow rollback for Data Definition Language (DDL), the table definition is rolled back. In DBMSs that do not allow rollback for DDL, the Database painter is refreshed with the current definition of the table.

  3. Specify any information required by your DBMS.

    Naming a primary key

    Some DBMSs allow you to name a primary key and specify whether it is clustered or not clustered. For these DBMSs, the Primary Key property page has a way to specify these properties.

    For DBMS-specific information, see your DBMS documentation.

  4. Right-click on the Object Details view and select Save Changes from the pop-up menu.

    Any changes you made in the view are immediately saved to the table definition.

    Completing the primary key

    Some DBMSs automatically create a unique index when you define a primary key so that you can immediately begin to add data to the table. Others require you to create a unique index separately to support the primary key before populating the table with data.

    To find out what your DBMS does, see your DBMS documentation.

Defining foreign keys

If your DBMS supports foreign keys, you can define them in PowerBuilder.

To create a foreign key:

  1. Do one of the following:

    • Highlight the table and click the Create Foreign Key drop-down toolbar button in PainterBar1.

    • Select Object>Insert>Foreign Key from the main menu or New>Foreign Key from the pop-up menu.

    • Expand the table's tree view and right-click on Foreign Keys and select New Foreign Key from the pop-up menu.

    The Foreign Key properties display in the Object Details view. Some of the information is DBMS-specific.

  2. Name the foreign key in the Foreign Key Name box.

  3. Select the columns for the foreign key.

  4. On the Primary Key tab page, select the table and column containing the Primary key referenced by the foreign key you are defining.

    Key definitions must match exactly

    The definition of the foreign key columns must match the primary key columns, including datatype, precision (width), and scale (decimal specification).

  5. On the Rules tab page, specify any information required by your DBMS.

    For example, you might need to specify a delete rule by selecting one of the rules listed for On Delete of Primary Table Row.

    For DBMS-specific information, see your DBMS documentation.

  6. Right-click on the Object Details view and select Save Changes from the pop-up menu.

    Any changes you make in the view are immediately saved to the table definition.

Modifying keys

You can modify a primary key in PowerBuilder.

To modify a primary key:

  1. Do one of the following:

    • Highlight the primary key listed in the table's expanded tree view and click the Properties button.

    • Select Properties from the Object or pop-up menu.

  2. Drag the primary key icon and drop it in the Object Details view.

  3. Select one or more columns for the primary key.

  4. Right-click on the Object Details view and select Save Changes from the pop-up menu.

    Any changes you make in the view are immediately saved to the table definition.

Dropping a key

You can drop keys (remove them from the database) from within PowerBuilder.

To drop a key:

  1. Highlight the key in the expanded tree view for the table in the Objects view or right-click the key icon for the table in the Object Layout view.

  2. Select Drop Primary Key or Drop Foreign Key from the key's pop-up menu.

  3. Click Yes.

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