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Old August 7th, 2007, 11:00 PM posted to microsoft.public.access.tablesdbdesign
Dee
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Posts: 644
Default PK - To AutoNumber or Not To AutoNumber - That is the Question

On another note, I just read something else interesting.

If the human beings responsible for input of the question number, etc. that
will be the PK make a mistake, it will be difficult to update.

If, however, an autonumber is used for the PK, then the change can be made
and cascading to all related tables.

Any input would be appreciated.
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Thanks!

Dee


"Jamie Collins" wrote:

On Aug 6, 12:21 pm, "BruceM" wrote:
Then they have a problem that they might have avoided with a more "natural"
EmployeeID used as the key, until they decide that since everybody is part
of one company everybody's ID should be the same format. There is no single
best answer


I agree but I think many people see "autonumber primary key" as always
being the answer, the panacea. I'm not sure whether the blame lies
with the "I tend to use Autonumber PKs for most of my tables" brigade
or whether it's Access's "A table must have a primary key for you to
define a relationship between this table and other tables in the
database [incorrect]. Do you want to create a primary key now?" but,
if proposed designs posted in these groups are anything to go by,
consideration of candidate keys tends to go no further than
"autonumber primary key"

Jamie.

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