Question

How to set up a foreign key using phpMyAdmin

Asked by: tantan6611

Hi ALL;

How to set up a foreign key to a table in MySQL using  phpMyAdmin ( 2.9.2 )?

Please help

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Asked On
2007-10-09 at 07:30:02ID22881410
Tags

phpmyadmin

,

foreign

,

key

Topic

MySQL Server

Participating Experts
1
Points
500
Comments
13

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Answers

 

by: gamebitsPosted on 2007-10-09 at 07:50:53ID: 20041424

1) You need a table set with InnoDB (MyISAM does not support foreign key constraint)
2) Click on the Structure tab.
3) Under the table shown there is a link "Relation View"
4) That's where you set up the constraint.

 

by: tantan6611Posted on 2007-10-09 at 08:58:11ID: 20042055


Very nice  But what should I asgin the colmun that I intend to put as a foreign key for another table .....a Primary key,  index or unique key ?!

 

by: tantan6611Posted on 2007-10-09 at 16:04:21ID: 20045257

gamebits...
Please explain in more details step 4 what should I do exactly...

4) That's where you set up the constraint.

 

by: gamebitsPosted on 2007-10-09 at 16:29:38ID: 20045362

Create an index on the field you want to use for foreign key constraint.

Then when you click on Relation view you will have 3 text boxes with the field(s) you want to use.

Lets suppose you have a table name Customer with a field name invoice_id, you also have a table named Invoice with the primary field named invoice_id.

If you open Relation view on Customer you will see a list of all the fields in that table at the top yu will see
Links to

invoice_id [drop down with the list of all the table fields you can link to] ON DELETE [drop down with the options Cascade
SET NULL
NO ACTION
RESTRICT]
ON UPDATE [drop down with the same options]

So you could setup that the invoice will be deleted if you delete the customer link to it [cascade]

I don't know how complex is your application but this is the basic on how to set the foreign key with phpmyadmin

 

by: tantan6611Posted on 2007-10-10 at 01:59:00ID: 20047056

Ok great this is what I'm doing ...
BUT after creating an index for  invoice_id field in  Customer table and then choosing
 invoice_id [Invoice->invoice_id] ON DELETE [Cascade]ON UPDATE [Cascade]  
And then press Save
I got this error messege in red at the top of the page
No index defined! ( invoice_id)

So what I did wrong?!!

 

by: gamebitsPosted on 2007-10-10 at 06:16:10ID: 20048222

Do you have define an index on invoice_id in Invoice table as well?

Do you have some data in the tables?

And lastly make sure you have the same data type in both tables, invoice_id set as VARCHAR in one table and set as INT in the other will bring a message error.

 

by: tantan6611Posted on 2007-10-12 at 02:47:53ID: 20064029

Your right, the problem is that the tables are populated
So this means that I can not create a foreign key  in populated tables?

 

by: gamebitsPosted on 2007-10-12 at 04:01:50ID: 20064297

You can create a foreign key in populated tables but the fields would have to be of the same type, change the type if needed.

Thanks for the points and the grade.

 

by: tantan6611Posted on 2007-10-12 at 05:28:44ID: 20064733


 The types are the same (varchar) in both fields!

 

by: gamebitsPosted on 2007-10-12 at 05:29:45ID: 20064745

What error message do you get?

 

by: tantan6611Posted on 2007-10-12 at 05:38:36ID: 20064812


 it givs me the same error messege as before "No index defined! ( invoice_id)"!



 

by: gamebitsPosted on 2007-10-12 at 05:41:19ID: 20064834

Did you indexed invoice_id in both tables?

 

by: tantan6611Posted on 2007-10-12 at 06:04:04ID: 20064965

yes...
 invoice_id  is a (primary key) in Invoice table and (index) in Customer table

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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