CHAPTER 5
The Relational Database Constraints
Copyright © 2017 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Navathe Slide 1- 1
Informal Definitions
Informally, a relation looks like a table of values.
A relation typically contains a set of rows.
The data elements in each row represent certain facts
that correspond to a real-world entity or relationship
In the formal model, rows are called tuples
Each column has a column header that indicates the
meaning of the data items in that column
In the formal model, the column header is called an
attribute name (or just attribute)
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Example of a Relation
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Informal Definitions
Key of a Relation:
Each row has a value of a data item (or set of items)
that uniquely identifies that row in the table
Called the key
In the STUDENT table, SSN is the key
Sometimes row-ids or sequential numbers are
assigned as keys to identify the rows in a table
Called artificial key or surrogate key
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Formal Definitions - Domain
A domain has a logical definition:
Example: “USA_phone_numbers” are the set of 10 digit phone
numbers valid in the U.S.
A domain also has a data-type or a format defined for it.
The USA_phone_numbers may have a format: (ddd)ddd-dddd
where each d is a decimal digit.
Dates have various formats such as year, month, date
formatted as yyyy-mm-dd, or as dd mm,yyyy etc.
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Definition Summary
Informal Terms Formal Terms
Table Relation
Column Header Attribute
All possible Column Domain
Values
Row Tuple
Table Definition Schema of a Relation
Populated Table State of the Relation
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Example – A relation STUDENT
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CONSTRAINTS
Constraints determine which values are permissible and
which are not in the database.
They are of three main types:
1. Inherent or Implicit Constraints: These are based on
the data model itself. (E.g., relational model does not allow a
list as a value for any attribute)
2. Schema-based or Explicit Constraints: They are
expressed in the schema by using the facilities provided by
the model. (E.g., max. cardinality ratio constraint in the ER
model)
3. Application based or semantic constraints: These are
beyond the expressive power of the model and must be
specified and enforced by the application programs.
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Relational Integrity Constraints
Constraints are conditions that must hold on all valid
relation states.
There are three main types of (explicit schema-based)
constraints that can be expressed in the relational model:
Key constraints
Entity integrity constraints
Referential integrity constraints
Another schema-based constraint is the domain
constraint
Every value in a tuple must be from the domain of its
attribute (or it could be null, if allowed for that attribute)
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Key Constraints
Superkey of R:
Is a set of attributes SK of R with the following condition:
No two tuples in any valid relation state r(R) will have the
same value for SK
That is, for any distinct tuples t1 and t2 in r(R), t1[SK] t2[SK]
This condition must hold in any valid state r(R)
Key of R:
A "minimal" superkey
That is, a key is a superkey K such that removal of any
attribute from K results in a set of attributes that is not a
superkey (does not possess the superkey uniqueness
property)
A Key is a Superkey but not vice versa
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Key Constraints (continued)
Example: Consider the CAR relation schema:
CAR(State, Reg#, SerialNo, Make, Model, Year)
CAR has two keys:
Key1 = {State, Reg#}
Key2 = {SerialNo}
Both are also superkeys of CAR
{SerialNo, Make} is a superkey but not a key.
In general:
Any key is a superkey (but not vice versa)
Any set of attributes that includes a key is a superkey
A minimal superkey is also a key
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Key Constraints (continued)
If a relation has several candidate keys, one is chosen
arbitrarily to be the primary key.
The primary key attributes are underlined.
Example: Consider the CAR relation schema:
CAR(State, Reg#, SerialNo, Make, Model, Year)
We chose SerialNo as the primary key
The primary key value is used to uniquely identify each
tuple in a relation
Provides the tuple identity
Also used to reference the tuple from another tuple
General rule: Choose as primary key the smallest of the
candidate keys (in terms of size)
Not always applicable – choice is sometimes subjective
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CAR table with two candidate keys –
LicenseNumber chosen as Primary Key
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Relational Database Schema
Relational Database Schema:
A set S of relation schemas that belong to the
same database.
S is the name of the whole database schema
S = {R1, R2, ..., Rn} and a set IC of integrity
constraints.
R1, R2, …, Rn are the names of the individual
relation schemas within the database S
Following slide shows a COMPANY database
schema with 6 relation schemas
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COMPANY Database Schema
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Entity Integrity
Entity Integrity:
The primary key attributes PK of each relation schema
R in S cannot have null values in any tuple of r(R).
This is because primary key values are used to identify the
individual tuples.
t[PK] null for any tuple t in r(R)
If PK has several attributes, null is not allowed in any of these
attributes
Note: Other attributes of R may be constrained to
disallow null values, even though they are not
members of the primary key.
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Referential Integrity
A constraint involving two relations
The previous constraints involve a single relation.
Used to specify a relationship among tuples in
two relations:
The referencing relation and the referenced
relation.
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Referential Integrity
Tuples in the referencing relation R1 have
attributes FK (called foreign key attributes) that
reference the primary key attributes PK of the
referenced relation R2.
A tuple t1 in R1 is said to reference a tuple t2 in
R2 if t1[FK] = t2[PK].
A referential integrity constraint can be displayed
in a relational database schema as a directed arc
from R1.FK to R2.
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Referential Integrity (or foreign key)
Constraint
Statement of the constraint
The value in the foreign key column (or columns)
FK of the referencing relation R1 can be either:
(1) a value of an existing primary key value of a
corresponding primary key PK in the referenced
relation R2, or
(2) a null.
In case (2), the FK in R1 should not be a part of
its own primary key.
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Displaying a relational database
schema and its constraints
Each relation schema can be displayed as a row of
attribute names
The name of the relation is written above the attribute
names
The primary key attribute (or attributes) will be underlined
A foreign key (referential integrity) constraints is displayed
as a directed arc (arrow) from the foreign key attributes to
the referenced table
Can also point the primary key of the referenced relation for
clarity
Next slide shows the COMPANY relational schema
diagram with referential integrity constraints
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Referential Integrity Constraints for COMPANY database
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Other Types of Constraints
Semantic Integrity Constraints:
based on application semantics and cannot be
expressed by the model per se
Example: “the max. no. of hours per employee for all
projects he or she works on is 56 hrs per week”
A constraint specification language may have to be
used to express these.
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Update Operations on Relations
INSERT a tuple.
DELETE a tuple.
MODIFY a tuple.
Integrity constraints should not be violated by the
update operations.
Several update operations may have to be
grouped together.
Updates may propagate to cause other updates
automatically. This may be necessary to maintain
integrity constraints.
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Update Operations on Relations
In case of integrity violation, several actions can
be taken:
Cancel the operation that causes the violation
(RESTRICT or REJECT option)
Perform the operation but inform the user of the
violation
Trigger additional updates so the violation is
corrected (CASCADE option, SET NULL option)
Execute a user-specified error-correction routine
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Possible violations for each operation
INSERT may violate any of the constraints:
Domain constraint:
if one of the attribute values provided for the new tuple is not
of the specified attribute domain
Key constraint:
if the value of a key attribute in the new tuple already exists in
another tuple in the relation
Referential integrity:
if a foreign key value in the new tuple references a primary
key value that does not exist in the referenced relation
Entity integrity:
if the primary key value is null in the new tuple
Copyright © 2017 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Navathe Slide 5- 25
Possible violations for each operation
DELETE may violate only referential integrity:
If the primary key value of the tuple being deleted is
referenced from other tuples in the database
Can be remedied by several actions: RESTRICT, CASCADE,
SET NULL (see Chapter 6 for more details)
RESTRICT option: reject the deletion
CASCADE option: propagate the new primary key value into the
foreign keys of the referencing tuples
SET NULL option: set the foreign keys of the referencing tuples
to NULL
One of the above options must be specified during
database design for each foreign key constraint
Copyright © 2017 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Navathe Slide 5- 26
Possible violations for each operation
UPDATE may violate domain constraint and NOT NULL
constraint on an attribute being modified
Any of the other constraints may also be violated,
depending on the attribute being updated:
Updating the primary key (PK):
Similar to a DELETE followed by an INSERT
Need to specify similar options to DELETE
Updating a foreign key (FK):
May violate referential integrity
Updating an ordinary attribute (neither PK nor FK):
Can only violate domain constraints
Copyright © 2017 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Navathe Slide 5- 27
Summary
Presented Relational Model Concepts
Definitions
Characteristics of relations
Discussed Relational Model Constraints and Relational
Database Schemas
Domain constraints
Key constraints
Entity integrity
Referential integrity
Described the Relational Update Operations and Dealing
with Constraint Violations
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In-Class Exercise
(Taken from Exercise 5.15)
Consider the following relations for a database that keeps track of student
enrollment in courses and the books adopted for each course:
STUDENT(SSN, Name, Major, Bdate)
COURSE(Course#, Cname, Dept)
ENROLL(SSN, Course#, Quarter, Grade)
BOOK_ADOPTION(Course#, Quarter, Book_ISBN)
TEXT(Book_ISBN, Book_Title, Publisher, Author)
Draw a relational schema diagram specifying the foreign keys for this
schema.
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