"Tony Toews [MVP]" wrote in message
...
"Brian Selzer" wrote:

Only an idiot would have a rule for no particularly good reason. Only an
imbecile would follow such a rule. A strong argument can be made for
using
autonumber primary keys--especially if the target DBMS doesn't support FOR
EACH ROW triggers--but to just blythely add them for no particularly good
reason is a recipe for disaster.

My reasons are, in my opinion, good reasons. Not great but good. You
don't like
them? Tough.


So now they're good reasons? In your earlier post, you said they weren't
good reasons. Can't you make up your mind? You also haven't stated your
reasons. How can I like them or not like them? I don't know them!

A clear understanding of how and when they
can be used and why is critical or you run the risk of a corrupt database.

Umm, not that you care I'm sure but my web pages on Microsoft Access
corruptions
http://www.granite.ab.ca/access/corruptmdbs.htm are the definitive
resource on the
web. And there have never been any Access corruptions during to
autonumber primary
keys that I can recall. And I've likely read just about every posting on
that topic
in the last eight or ten years in the comp.databases.ms-access and the
microsoft.public.access.* newsgroups.


I was not speaking of corruption due to disk failures; I was instead
referring to permitting garbage into the database due to the misuse of
auto-number primary keys.

However my knowledge is practical not theoretical.


I gained most of my knowledge the hard way as well, but that doesn't mean
that one shouldn't seek to understand and apply the theory.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm
Tony's Microsoft Access Blog - http://msmvps.com/blogs/access/