Constraints

 Microsoft SQL Server allows you to specify

constraints of various types on tables, so
that the database engine itself can handle
various types of validations automatically.
 For example, you can create a primary key
constraint on a table to ensure uniqueness
of key values. Similarly, you can use check
constraint to limit the possible values for
field or a group of fields.
Constraints
 Constraints can be specified in two ways:
Column constraint and Table constraint.
 Column Level:
 A column constraint is linked to specify
column in a table, while a table
 Constraint can refer to one or more columns
within a table. In a
 CREATE TABLE statement, a column
constraint is specified along with the name
of the column that refers to.
Constraints
 Table Level:
 while a table constraint is given after all
the column specifications have been
given.
 Constraints can be explicitly named by
us, or may be kept unnamed, in which
case SQL Server assigns a unique name
to the constraint.
Types of Constraints
 Constraints can be specified when a
table is created (with the CREATE TABLE
statement) or after the table is created
(with the ALTER TABLE statement).
 NOT NULL
 DEFAULT
 CHECK
 UNIQUE
 PRIMARY KEY
 FOREIGN KEY
Types of Keys
 NOT NULL:
 The NOT NULL constraint enforces a column to NOT
accept NULL values.
 The NOT NULL constraint enforces a field to always

contain a value. Or
 NOT NULL constraint on a column is used to tell the

database that a value must always be specified for

that column; it cannot be null
CREATE TABLE EmployeeDetails
(
EmployeeID CHAR(1) NOT NULL
)
Types of Keys
 If you want to allow a null value for a column, you
must use the NULL clause instead.
 For example:
 CREATE TABLE EmployeeDetails
 (
 EmployeeID CHAR(1) NULL
 )
 NOTE: The default in SQL Server is NULL, though
the ANSI standard is NULL.
Types of Keys
 DEFAULT Constraint:
 The DEFAULT constraint is used to insert a
default value into a column.
 The default value will be added to all new
records, if no other value is specified. Or
 A default constraint allows you to specify a
default value for a column if no value is
specified for that column while inserting a
new row.
Types of Keys
 DEFAULT Constraint:
CREATE TABLE EmployeeDetails
(
EmpID INT,
EmpName VARCHAR(50),
Gender CHAR(1) DEFAULT('F')
)
GO

INSERT EmployeeDetails(EmpID, EmpName) VALUES(1,'Employee_1')

GO

SELECT *
FROM EmployeeDetails
GO
Types of Keys
 CHECK Constraint:
 A check constraint implement domain integrity, i.e., rules that govern
what the valid entries are in a table.
 CHECK constraints limiting the values that are accepted by a column.
 If you define a CHECK constraint on a single column it allows only
certain values for this column.
 Ex: in an employee table, you may not want the employee age to be
less than 18 years or more than 65 years
 CHECK constraint get executed when new record is inserted or to
update existing record.
 A CHECK constraint returns TRUE when the condition is satisfied if it
is not it returns FALSE
 When CHECK constraint returns TRUE only record inserted or
updated.
 You can apply multiple CHECK constraints to a single column.
 You can also apply a single CHECK constraint to multiple columns
Types of Keys
CREATE TABLE EmployeeDetails
(
EmpId INT,
Age TINYINT,
EmpName VARCHAR(50),
CONSTRAINT employee_ck01 CHECK (Age BETWEEN 18
AND 65)
)

Inserting records with valid age

INSERT INTO EmployeeDetails VALUES(1,21,'Employee1')

Inserting records with invalid age

INSERT INTO EmployeeDetails VALUES(1,17,'Employee1')
Types of Keys
 Primary Key:
 The PRIMARY KEY constraint uniquely
identifies each record in a database table.
 A primary key constraint specifies that a field
or group of fields in a table should have
unique, non-null values.
 To uniquely identify a row, Primary key is
used.
 Primary Key can not allow duplicate values
and null values.
 A table allows only one Primary key
Types of Keys
 CREATE TABLE Department
 (
 Dept_Code CHAR(4) CONSTRAINT dept_pk PRIMARY KEY,
 Dept_Name CHAR(2)
 )
 GO


 CREATE TABLE Department

 (
 Dept_Code CHAR(4),
 Dept_Name CHAR(2),
 CONSTRAINT dept_pk1 PRIMARY KEY(Dept_Code)
 )
 GO
Types of Keys
 CREATE TABLE InvoiceDetails
 (
 Invoice_Year NUMERIC(4),
 Invoice_Number Numeric(5),
 Customer_Code CHAR(4),
 -- More columns to be added here
 CONSTRAINT invoice_pk PRIMARY KEY(Invoice_Year, Invoice_Number)
 )
 CREATE TABLE Department
 (
 Dept_Code CHAR(4) NOT NULL,
 Dept_Name CHAR(2)
 )
 GO
 ALTER TABLE Department ADD CONSTRAINT dept_pk PRIMARY KEY(Dept_Code)
 Go
Types of Keys
 UNIQUE KEY
 The UNIQUE constraint uniquely identifies each record in
a database table.
 A unique constraint is similar to a primary key constraint
 The UNIQUE and PRIMARY KEY constraints both provide
uniqueness for a column or set of columns.
 UNIQUE constraints allow one null value per column.
 A table allows multiple Unique constraints.
 There is one small difference a primary key expression
cannot have a null value, a unique constraint expression
can.
 A UNIQUE constraint can be referenced by a FOREIGN
KEY constraint.
Types of Keys
CREATE TABLE EmployeeDetails
(
EmpID INT,
EmpName VARCHAR(30),
PassportNumber CHAR(20),
CONSTRAINT Employee_Unique UNIQUE(PassportNumber)
)
GO
INSERT INTO EmployeeDetails VALUES(1,'Employee1','B120987')
INSERT INTO EmployeeDetails VALUES(2,'Employee2','B134821')
GO
Inserting same passport number as Employee1
INSERT INTO EmployeeDetails VALUES(3,'Employee3','B120987')
GO
Types of Keys
 Foreign Key :
 In a typical database, various tables have some logical relationship
between themselves; a database is not just a group of unrelated
tables. In most such databases, certain referential integrity
relationship must exist between tables; otherwise logically the
data would be corrupt.
 To make relation between tables we used Foreign key.
 A Foreign key in a table is referred another table’s primary key or
Unique.
 A Primary key can be referred by multiple foreign keys from other
tables.
 SQL Server enforces referential integrity through the use of foreign
key constraint.
 a Foreign key can refer back to the same table but to a different
column. This kind of foreign key is known as “self-referencing
foreign key”.
Types of Keys
CREATE TABLE Department
(
Dept_Code CHAR(4),
Dept_Name VARCHAR(50),
CONSTRAINT dept_pk PRIMARY KEY(Dept_Code)
)
GO
CREATE TABLE EmployeeDetails
(
EmpID INT,
EmpName CHAR(30),
Dept_Code CHAR(4),
CONSTRAINT employee_fk01 FOREIGN KEY (Dept_Code)
REFERENCES Department(Dept_Code)
)
GO
Types of Keys
Foreign key constraint with
 ON DELETE { NO ACTION | CASCADE | SET NULL | SET DEFAULT }

 ON UPDATE { NO ACTION | CASCADE | SET NULL | SET DEFAULT }

CREATE TABLE EmployeeDetails

(
EmpID INT,
EmpName CHAR(30),
Dept_Code CHAR(4),
CONSTRAINT employee_fk01 FOREIGN KEY (Dept_Code)
REFERENCES Department(Dept_Code)
ON DELETE CASCADE
ON UPDATE CASCADE
)
 GO
Types of Keys
Deleting department records where department code
is DPT4
DELETE FROM Department
WHERE Dept_Code = 'DEP4'
GO

Updating department records where department

code is DEP1
UPDATE Department
SET Dept_Code = 'DPT5'
WHERE Dept_Code = 'DEP1'
GO
Disabling a constraint
CREATE TABLE dbo.cnst_example
(
id INT NOT NULL,
name VARCHAR(10) NOT NULL,
salary MONEY NOT NULL
CONSTRAINT salary_cap CHECK (salary < 100000)
)
GO
Valid inserts
INSERT INTO dbo.cnst_example VALUES (1,'Joe Brown',65000);
INSERT INTO dbo.cnst_example VALUES (2,'Mary Smith',75000);
This insert violates the constraint.
INSERT INTO dbo.cnst_example VALUES (3,'Pat Jones',105000);
Disable the constraint and try again.
ALTER TABLE dbo.cnst_example NOCHECK CONSTRAINT salary_cap;
INSERT INTO dbo.cnst_example VALUES (3,'Pat Jones',105000);
Re-enable the constraint and try another insert; this will fail.
ALTER TABLE dbo.cnst_example CHECK CONSTRAINT salary_cap;
INSERT INTO dbo.cnst_example VALUES (4,'Eric James',110000) ;
Dropping a Constraint
CREATE TABLE dbo.doc_exc
(
column_a INT
CONSTRAINT my_constraint UNIQUE
)
GO

ALTER TABLE dbo.doc_exc DROP CONSTRAINT

my_constraint ;
GO
View Constraint
To view the list of constraints on table, you
can give the following command:
Syntax:
[ EXECUTE | EXEC ] sp_helpconstraint
<table_name>
Example:
EXEC sp_helpconstraint 'Department'
GO