Posted by Ed Murphy on 09/24/07 15:33

--CELKO-- wrote:

>>> In one table there is GUID as a primary key and another GUID as
> foreign key. But there is no relation defined to what table this
> foreign key refers [I think you mean that you have no REFERENCES
> clause?]. I suppose the link [sic: reference] between these two tables
> is purely managed programmatically. <<
>
> I worked for a company that wrote crap like that when I first moved to
> Austin. They are still in business, but down from ~1200 employees to
> ~200 and are now outsourcing their Indian operations to China as they
> shrink.
>
> This kind of thing falls apart in about a year. You get orphans all
> over the schema (we choked a hard disk for a relatively small custom
> sales commission package). There is no ways to validate or verify a
> GUID; you need a proper key instead of a bad attempt at pointer
> chains. The "pseudo Foreign Key" will be referenced by Cabbages and
> Kings simply because all GUIDs can be compared (like pointers or other
> exposed physical locators).

He can add REFERENCES clauses (once he figures out which ones should
be added, and cleans up any existing exceptions), surely?

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