asked on

One foreign key referencing primary key in multiple tables

Assignment table(assignmentid

pk,title,etc.,assignmenttype(1=forum,2=journal,etc),refid (id of a

forumthread,or id of a journal)

_______________________

forum table(threadid pk,threadtitle,graded y/n,etc.

________________

journal table(journalid,journaltitle,gradedy/n.etc.)

________________

is it ok to use refid as a foriegn key referencing forumid in fourm

table if the assignment type is forum

and refid is a foreign key referencing journalid in journal table if

assignment type is journal

how this can be accomplised in the best way to improve performance

I thought of doing the following

adding the following two tables journalassign(journalid,assignmentid)

and forumassign(forumid, assignm)

___________________________
I thought of another alternative please let me know the best way to go

for it

Assignment table(assignmentid

pk,title,etc.,assignmenttype(1=forum,2=journal,etc),refid (id of a

forumthread,or id of a journal)

foreign key1 is (assignmenttype+refid) referencing threadi+type in forum

table
foreign key2 is (assignmenttype+refid) referencing journalid+type in

journal table

forum table((threadid +Type=1) pk,threadtitle,graded y/n,etc.
and

________________

journal table((journalid+type=2)pk,journaltitle,gradedy/n.etc.)

________________
but I have similar situations in other tables

example:

lessontools(lessonid + toolid pk, tooltype (1=dropbox,2=,etc.)

dropbox(dropboxid, etc)

___________________
Please see attached diagram and give me your opinion

thanks

ValentinoV

In your Assignment table I would create two foreign keys: ForumID to refer to your Forum table and JournalID to refer to yourJournal table. When AssignmentType = 1 then ForumID should be filled in. And when type=2 then JournalID should be filled in.

However, I notice that your primary keys are sometimes made up of several fields, for instance your Journal table's PK is JournalID and ToolType. That seems a bit weird. Isn't your JournalID unique across all records?

sohairzaki2005

ASKER

I do not think this is a good idea.
Thanks

ValentinoV

Would you mind sharing why you think that my suggestion is not a good idea?

Another option that would be acceptable but less interesting that my earlier suggestion, in my opinion, is that you create two tabes: JournalAssignment and ForumAssignment.

As for LessonTools: why would you store ToolType there? It seems to me that ToolType is an attribute of "Tool" and thus belongs in the Tool table (which is referred to through ToolID)?

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