Database Systems

Basic Database Concepts

Lecture 2-2
By Umair Shah
 Key
• A Key is a data item that exclusively identifies a record. In
other words, key is a set of column(s) that is used to uniquely
identify the record in a table.
• Uniquely identify a tuple in a relation (Special attribute).
• It is used to fetch or retrieve records / data-rows from data
table according to the condition/requirement.
• Key provide several types of constraints like column can’t
store duplicate values or null values.
• Keys are also used to generate relationship among different
database tables or views.
 Type of key
• Candidate Key
– A Candidate key is an attribute or set of attributes that uniquely
identifies a record. Among the set of candidate, one candidate key is
chosen as Primary Key. So a table can have multiple candidate key but
each table can have maximum one primary key.
– Example:
• Possible Candidate Keys in Branch_Info table.
– Branch_Id
– Branch_Name
– Branch_Code
• Possible Candidate keys in Student_Information table.
– Student_Id
– College_Id
– Rtu_Roll_No
 Type of key
• Primary Key
– A Primary key uniquely identifies each record in a table and must never be
the same for the 2 records. Primary key is a set of one or more fields
( columns) of a table that uniquely identify a record in database table. A
table can have only one primary key and one candidate key can select as a
primary key. The primary key should be chosen such that its attributes are
never or rarely changed, for example, we can’t select Student_Id field as a
primary key because in some case Student_Id of student may be changed.
– Example:
• Primary Key in Branch_Info table:
– Branch_Id
• Primary Key in Student_Information Table:
– College_Id
 Type of key
• Foreign Keys:
– Foreign key is used to generate the relationship between the
tables. Foreign Key is a field in database table that is Primary key
in another table. A foreign key can accept null and duplicate
value.
– Example:
• Branch_Id is a Foreign Key in Student_Information table that
primary key exist in Branch_Info(Branch_Id) table.
 Type of key
• Super Key
– Super key is a set of one or more than one keys that can be used
to uniquely identify the record in table. A Super key for an entity
is a set of one or more attributes whose combined value
uniquely identifies the entity in the entity set. A super key is a
combine form of Primary Key, Alternate key and Unique key and
Primary Key, Unique Key and Alternate Key are subset of super
key. A Super Key is simply a non-minimal Candidate Key, that is
to say one with additional columns not strictly required to
ensure uniqueness of the row. A super key can have a single
column.
 Type of key
– Example:
• Super Keys in Branch_Info Table.
– Branch_Id
– Branch_Name
– Branch_Code
– { Branch_Id, Branch_Code }
– { Branch_Name , Branch_Code }
• Super Keys in Student_Information Table:
– Student_Id
– College_Id
– Rtu_Roll_No
– { Student_Id, Student_Name}
– { College_Id, Branch_Id }
– { Rtu_Roll_No, Session }
 Data Integrity
• Data Integrity
– Referential integrity is a subset of data integrity, which is
concerned with the accuracy and consistency of all data
(relationship or otherwise). Maintaining data integrity is a
crucial part of working with databases.
 What is Referential Integrity?
• Referential integrity refers to the accuracy and consistency of
data within a relationship.
• In relationships, data is linked between two or more tables.
This is achieved by having the foreign key (in the associated
table) reference a primary key value (in the primary – or
parent – table). Because of this, we need to ensure that data
on both sides of the relationship remain intact.
• So, referential integrity requires that, whenever a foreign key
value is used it must reference a valid, existing primary key
in the parent table.
 Referential Integrity
• Example
– For example, if we delete record number 15 in a primary table,
we need to be sure that there’s no foreign key in any
related table with the value of 15. We should only be able to
delete a primary key if there are no associated
records. Otherwise, we would end up with an orphaned record.
 Referential Integrity
• So referential integrity will prevent users from:
– Adding records to a related table if there is no associated record
in the primary table.
– Changing values in a primary table that result in orphaned
records in a related table.
– Deleting records from a primary table if there are matching
related records.