§ It is a database concept that
ensures that relationships between tables remain consistent. When one table has
a foreign key to another table.
§ Theconcept of
referential integrity states that you may not add a record to the table that
contains the foreign key unless there is a corresponding record in the linked
table.
Example
§
Consider the situation where we have two tables:
Employees and Managers.
§
The Employees table has a foreign key attribute
entitled ManagedBy which points to the record for that employee’s manager in
the Managers table.
Referential integrity enforces the following
three rules:
1.
We
may not add a record to the Employees table unless the ManagedBy attribute
points to a valid record in the Managers table.
2.
If
the primary key for a record in the Managers table changes, all corresponding
records in the Employees table must be modifiedusing a cascading update.
3.
If
a record in the Managers table is deleted, all corresponding records in the
Employees table must be deleted using a cascading delete.
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