Look up Tables

[Leon Shaw]

Do you relate look-up table in sql server 2000?

Example:
MEMBER TABLE STATE TABLE
MemberID StateID
State State

Would you relate these two table if you only need the state table to serve
as a drop down list of states to compliment the members table? Please
explain.Thank you!

[David Portas]

In SQL, relationships are defined with a FOREIGN KEY constraint:

CREATE TABLE States (statecode CHAR(2) PRIMARY KEY, statename VARCHAR(20)
NOT NULL UNIQUE)

CREATE TABLE Members (memberid INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, statecode CHAR(2) NOT
NULL FOREIGN KEY REFERENCES States (statecode))

> Would you relate these two table if you only need the state table to serve
> as a drop down list of states to compliment the members table? Please

The purpose of defining a foreign key constraint is to maintain Referential
Integrity. In this case the foreign key ensures that members must have a
valid statecode and that each state in the Members (child) table appears in
the States (parent) table.

--
David Portas
------------
Please reply only to the newsgroup
--