E-Content of

IT TOOLS AND BUSINESS SYSTEM

Chapter : 7.3 Integrity

Topic : 7.3 Integrity

Integrity
 Data integrity refers to the overall completeness, accuracy and consistency of
data.
 The concept of data integrity ensures that all data in a database can be traced
and connected to other data which ensures that the data is recoverable and
searchable.

FIG 7.3: Example for Integrity

Types of Integrity
 There are four types of Integrity
 Entity Integrity
 Referential Integrity
 Domain Integrity
 Entity Integrity
 The Entity Integrity states that in a base relation, primary key column
values cannot be null. (Null values are defined as "empty or containing no
values").
 A primary key is a minimal identifier that is used to identify columns uniquely.

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IT TOOLS AND BUSINESS SYSTEM
 A DBMS product such as Microsoft Access automatically enforces entity
integrity by prohibiting null values in the primary key fields.
 Referential Integrity
 The referential integrity states that, if R2 (Child table) includes a foreign key
FK matching the primary key PK of some R1 (Parent table) then every value
of FK in R2 must
 be equal to the value of PK in some rows of R1.
 be wholly null, i.e. each column in that FK must be null.
 For example, when adding a new row to a table containing FK, the table
containing the referenced PK must have matching values.
 Domain Integrity
 Domain integrity states that the values in a table are legal according to the
physical and the logical domain definition.
 For Instant explanation, the StudentID column domain might be
 Physical : data type "numeric" ; Length "4 characters"
 Logical : "The range of the number between 1000 and 4999"
 Therefore, the field would only accept input of four-digit number between
1000 and 4999.

FIG 7.4: Types of Integrity

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