RE: The "Rule" for Primary Key Fields (Posted by Andy Kramek) - www.foxite.com

> Well they say if you ask 10 computer experts a question you'll get 10 different answers. Unfortunate for all of us, IMO.

That's true. But remind me about one thing, which databases actually implement GUIDs as options for Primary Keys i.e. Autogenerate the GUID when a new record is added. I am pretty sure that none of he mainstream databases support this (i.e. Oracle, SQL Server, DB2 and so on). Maybe the "new" clones do so - MySQL? Postgres SQL?

Remember, just because you CAN do something, doesn't mean that you SHOULD.

> #3 Not for a merging - I'm talking more about a corporate merger. If branch A had a completely different set of customers than branch B, the use of numerics in each branch would absolutely require our intervention. With GUIDs we could just append one set of customers to the other.

Dont see that it makes any difference really, you just use a surrogate integer PK on the merged table and drop the original ID - the GUID (which is not the PK in the merged table) is still the link back to the original. Whether you use the GUID AS the PK in the merged table is completely irrelevant in this context - you still need it, yes, but it does not matter whether it is also the PK or not.

Regards
Andy Kramek
Microsoft MVP (Visual FoxPro)
Tightline Computers Inc, Akron Ohio, USA

COMPLETE THREAD

The "Rule" for Primary Key Fields Posted by Ken Murphy @ 12/6/2006 12:53:31 AM

RE: The "Rule" for Primary Key Fields Posted by Boudewijn Lutgerink @ 12/6/2006 8:32:13 AM

RE: The "Rule" for Primary Key Fields Posted by Ken Murphy @ 12/6/2006 2:11:55 PM

RE: The "Rule" for Primary Key Fields Posted by Borislav Borissov @ 12/6/2006 8:40:47 AM

RE: The "Rule" for Primary Key Fields Posted by Eric den Doop @ 12/6/2006 9:21:26 AM

RE: The "Rule" for Primary Key Fields Posted by Ken Murphy @ 12/6/2006 2:16:15 PM

RE: The "Rule" for Primary Key Fields Posted by sudhir uppal @ 1/12/2007 5:57:59 AM

RE: The "Rule" for Primary Key Fields Posted by William Sanders @ 1/12/2007 6:11:22 PM

RE: The "Rule" for Primary Key Fields Posted by Ken Murphy @ 1/12/2007 11:33:51 PM

RE: The "Rule" for Primary Key Fields Posted by Jamie Osborn @ 1/13/2007 2:05:07 AM

RE: The "Rule" for Primary Key Fields Posted by Ken Murphy @ 1/13/2007 2:20:51 AM

RE: The "Rule" for Primary Key Fields Posted by William Sanders @ 1/16/2007 9:49:00 PM

RE: The "Rule" for Primary Key Fields Posted by Ken Murphy @ 1/16/2007 10:25:38 PM

RE: The "Rule" for Primary Key Fields Posted by William Sanders @ 1/16/2007 10:25:30 PM

RE: The "Rule" for Primary Key Fields Posted by Terry Thurber @ 1/15/2007 12:41:55 AM

RE: The "Rule" for Primary Key Fields Posted by William Sanders @ 1/16/2007 9:50:14 PM

RE: The "Rule" for Primary Key Fields Posted by Terry Thurber @ 1/17/2007 7:17:35 AM

RE: The "Rule" for Primary Key Fields Posted by William Sanders @ 1/16/2007 9:58:37 PM

RE: The "Rule" for Primary Key Fields Posted by Terry Thurber @ 1/17/2007 7:44:55 AM

RE: The "Rule" for Primary Key Fields Posted by Eric den Doop @ 1/16/2007 10:56:36 PM

RE: The "Rule" for Primary Key Fields Posted by William Sanders @ 1/16/2007 11:20:56 PM

RE: The "Rule" for Primary Key Fields Posted by Terry Thurber @ 1/15/2007 1:29:36 AM

RE: The "Rule" for Primary Key Fields Posted by Ken Murphy @ 1/15/2007 9:56:37 PM

RE: The "Rule" for Primary Key Fields Posted by Mike Yearwood @ 1/18/2007 12:29:44 PM

RE: The "Rule" for Primary Key Fields Posted by Ken Murphy @ 1/18/2007 1:37:31 PM

RE: The "Rule" for Primary Key Fields Posted by Mike Yearwood @ 1/19/2007 1:58:58 AM

RE: The "Rule" for Primary Key Fields Posted by Ken Murphy @ 1/19/2007 3:41:03 PM

RE: The "Rule" for Primary Key Fields Posted by Andy Kramek @ 1/20/2007 7:12:23 PM

RE: The "Rule" for Primary Key Fields Posted by Mike Yearwood @ 1/20/2007 8:05:23 PM

RE: The "Rule" for Primary Key Fields Posted by Andy Kramek @ 1/20/2007 10:32:40 PM

RE: The "Rule" for Primary Key Fields Posted by Mike Yearwood @ 1/21/2007 4:40:22 PM

RE: The "Rule" for Primary Key Fields Posted by Andy Kramek @ 1/21/2007 7:13:22 PM

RE: The "Rule" for Primary Key Fields Posted by tushar @ 1/22/2007 6:02:17 AM

RE: The "Rule" for Primary Key Fields Posted by Andy Kramek @ 1/22/2007 12:15:08 PM

RE: The "Rule" for Primary Key Fields Posted by tushar @ 1/23/2007 8:26:36 AM