New Database - Primary Key

On Mon, 8 Jun 2009 16:00:05 +0100, Bernard Peek
wrote:

Hi Bernard,

If you add an
autonumber field you would call it a surrogate key.

Yes, an AutoNumber can act as a surrogate key with automatically
generated values.

But Access refers to
an autonumber field as a primary key, which I consider to be a serious
flaw in its design.

Not really. Access supports a table having a primary key, which is a
field (or combination of fields) that uniquely identifies each record.

And Access supports an AutoNumber datatype, which is a Long Integer
assigned unique values automatically. However, you do not *have* to
make it the primary key, although that's normally how it's used. You
can have one field (or fields) as a primary key, and another non-PK
AutoNumber field. So they are *not* the same thing, and Access
doesn't refer to them as such. Access will offer to create a PK using
an AutoNumber if you try to save a table without a PK, but that's just
it trying to help. It doesn't claim that they're the same thing.

So Access does not have the "serious flaw" you're referring to.

Armen Stein
Microsoft Access MVP
www.JStreetTech.com