Posted by Hugo Kornelis on 10/01/35 11:42

On 15 Mar 2006 13:07:57 -0800, pb648174 wrote:

>I guess what I'm getting at is that it is a heck of a lot easier to use
>an identity to refer to the row than the long description, especially
>within the application. Are you saying not to use the identity in
>application code anywhere and not in foreign keys or just not to
>display it to the end user?

Hi pb648174,

A surrogate key is a surrogate for another key.

The surrogate is used in the application, for technical reasons.

The "another key" (some people would call it "natural key", but I prefer
to use the term "business key" - it need not be natural [what's natural
about an SSN??], but it is what the business uses) is used outside of
the application.

In this context, "outside of the application" includes screensand
reports.

--
Hugo Kornelis, SQL Server MVP

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