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AutoNumber vs. Natural Primary Keys
Dear all,
As a relative newbie to the art/science of database design, I was wondering if there was any consensus view on whether it's better to use an AutoNumber field as primary key for a table rather than select a (human-understandable) natural key, assuming one exists that you can guarantee will be unique. Does the situation change between a 'main' table containing entity data (tblCustomers, e.g.) and a lookup table you're using to store values for a combo box? For that matter, is there any situation where you might prefer to use a random AutoNumber instead of an incremental one? Any ideas and advice very much appreciated. Thanks, Alex. |
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