Constraints
Course Code: CSC 2108 Course Title: Introduction To Database
Department of Computer Science
Faculty of Science and Technology
Lecture No: 10 Week No: 05 Semester: Summer
2019-2020
Lecturer: Kawser Irom Rushee &
[email protected] Lecture Outline
• Data Constraints
• Edit Constraints
Data Constraints
•Constraints are the rules enforced on data columns on table.
•Used to limit the type of data that can go into a table
•Ensures the accuracy and reliability of the data in the database
• Could be column level or table level
•Column level constraints are applied only to one column
•Table level constraints are applied to the whole table.
Data Constraints
Following are commonly used constraints available in SQL:
•NOT NULL Constraint: Ensures that a column cannot have NULL value.
•DEFAULT Constraint: Provides a default value for a column when none is specified.
•UNIQUE Constraint: Ensures that all values in a column are different.
•PRIMARY Key Uniquely identified each rows/records in a database table.
•FOREIGN Key: Uniquely identified a rows/records in any another database table.
•CHECK Constraint: The CHECK constraint ensures that all values in a column satisfy
certain conditions.
Constraints can be specified when a table is created with the CREATE TABLE statement
or you can use ALTER TABLE statement to create constraints even after the table is
created.
NOT NULL Constraints
The NOT NULL constraint enforces a field to always contain a value. This means
that you cannot insert a new record, or update a record without adding a value
to this field.
Syntax:
<col><datatype>(size)not null
UNIQUE Constraints
The UNIQUE constraint uniquely identifies each record in a database table.
Syntax:
<col><datatype>(size)unique;
PRIMARY KEY Constraints
The PRIMARY KEY constraint uniquely identifies each record in a database
table. Primary keys must contain unique values. A primary key column
cannot contain NULL values. Each table should have a primary key, and each
table can have only ONE primary key.
Syntax:
<col><datatype>(size)primary key
Or,
constraint <constraint_name> primary key(<col1>, <col2>)
CHECK Constraints
The CHECK constraint is used to limit the value range that can be placed in a
column. If you define a CHECK constraint on a single column it allows only
certain values for this column.
Syntax:
<col><datatype>(size) check(<logical expression>)
Or,
constraint <constraint_name> check <col> (<logical expression>)
Edit Constraints
•Constraints are the rules enforced on data columns on table. These are used
to limit the type of data that can go into a table. This ensures the accuracy and
reliability of the data in the database.
•Previously, we have learnt to add constraints on the time of creating the table.
You can also add or change constraint after table have been created.
Add Constraints
Syntax:
alter table <table>add constraint <constraint_name> <constraint type> (<col>);
**for foreign key:
alter table <table>add constraint<constraint_name> foreign key(<current table
col>) references <reference table name>(<reference col>);
Drop Constraints
Syntax:
alter table <table> drop constraint <constraint_name>;
Disable Constraints
Syntax:
alter table <table> disable constraint <constraint_name>;
Enable Constraints
Syntax:
alter table <table> enable constraint <constraint_name>;
Viewing Columns Associated with Constraints
Syntax:
select constraint_name, column_name from user_cons_columns where
table_name = ‘<table>’;
Books
1. Modern Database Management (Sixth Edition) by Fred R. McFadden, Jeffrey A.
Hoffer, Mary B. Prescott
2. Database System Concepts (Fifth Edition) by Henry F. Korth, S. Sudarshan, A.
Silberschatz
3. Oracle-database-10g-sql-fundamentals-1-student-guide-volume-1
4. SQL and Relational Theory: How to Write Accurate SQL Code by C.J. Date
5. Database Systems: A Practical Approach to Design, Implementation and
Management (4th Edition) by Thomas M. Connolly, Carolyn E. Begg
6. Fundamentals of Database Systems, 5th Edition by RamezElmasri, Shamkant B.
Navathe
7. Database Design and Relational Theory: Normal Forms and All That Jazz by C. J. Date
8. An Introduction to Database Systems 8th Edition, by C.J. Date
References
1. https://www.db-book.com/db6/slide-dir/index.html
2. https://docs.oracle.com/en/database/oracle/oracle-database/20/sqlrf/SQL-Sta
ndards.html#GUID-BCCCFF75-D2A4-43AD-8CAF-C3C97D92AC63
3. https://www.slideshare.net/HaaMeemMohiyuddin1/data-knowledge-and-infor
mation
4. https://www.slideshare.net/tabinhasan/from-data-to-wisdom
5. https://www.slideshare.net/thinnaphat.bo/
