5/19/2017 DatabaseIntegrity

DataIntegrity

Whenwearedesigningadatabase,thereislotoffactorstobeconcentratedon.Weneedtomakesurethatall
therequireddatasaredistributedamongrighttablesandthereisnoduplication/missingdata.Thespaceutilised
fortheappropriatelyforthedatabase.Timetakenforeachqueryisminimalandsoon.

ImaginewehaveaSTUDENTtablewithStudentdetailsandthesubjectsthathehasoptedfor.Ifweobservethe
tablebelow,JosephhasoptedfortwosubjectsMathematicsandPhysics.Thatisfine.Butwhatiswrongin
belowtable?Hisaddressisrepeatedeachtime,whichisnotnecessaryandwasteofspace.Thisiscalled
redundancyandisnotallowedinadatabase.

Similarly,ifwehavetoinsertonemorerecordforAllen,thenwehavetoenterallhisdetailsintotheabovetable.
Butwhatistheguaranteethatallhisdetailsareenteredcorrectly?Therecouldbeamistakeandhenceleadingto
mismatchinhisdetails.Butwhowilllatersaywhichentryiscorrect?Noone!HencethedatainDBiswrong.

Sameissuecanhappenwhenweupdatethedata.Ifweupdateaddressoneoftherecord,andleaveotherrecord
forJosephabove,againadatamismatch.

Andwhenwedeleteadata,sayforChris,whoishavingonlyoneentry,wholeofhisinformationislost!

ImaginetherearetwoentitiesEmployeeandDepartment,andtheyarenotproperlyrelatedbymeansofforeign
key.Whatwouldbetheresult?Wecanenterasmanydepartmentaswewanttoanemployeeforwhom
departmentmaynotexistsatallinDepartmenttable!Somappingthetablesappropriatelyisalsoaveryimportant
factor.

Dataintegrityensures,alltheabovementionedissuesarenotinjectedintothedatabasewhileitisdesigned.It
guaranteesthatdatabaseisperfectandcomplete.

TypesofIntegrityConstraints

Therearefivetypesofdataintegrityconstraints

DomainConstraint

Hereeachcolumnsofatableareverifiedsothatcorrectdataisenteredintocolumn.Forexample,numericdata
isenteredintoaNUMBERcolumnandnotanycharacter.InaDATEcolumn,correctdatesareenteredandnot
anyinvalidvalues.

https://www.tutorialcup.com/dbms/integrity.htm 1/3
5/19/2017 DatabaseIntegrity

Imaginewehaveatablewheredatefieldsarestoredascharacterandwehavetocopythisdatefieldintoanew
tablewherethiscolumnisdefinedasDATE.Whathappenshereismostofthedatafromtheoriginaltablewillnot
beloadedintonewtable,asthereismismatchinthedatastored.i.e.theoriginaltablewillhavedatesin22
March2015formatwhichnewtablewillnotacceptasdate.Intheforemostcase,iftherewasdomainintegrity,
originaltablewouldnothavesuchdatesandwouldhavepreservedtheintegrityofdataintheoriginaltableitself.

EntityIntegrity

ThisintegrityensuresthateachrecordinthetableisuniqueandhasprimarykeywhichisnotNULL.Thatmeans,
thereisnoduplicaterecordorinformationofdatainatableandeachrecordsareuniquelyidentifiedbynonnull
attributeofthetable.

InaSTUDENTtable,eachstudentshouldbeadifferentfromotherandtherewillnotbeduplicaterecords.Also,
STUDENT_IDwhichisaprimarykeyinthetablehasnonnullvaluesforeachoftherecord.

ColumnConstraint

Thisconstraintensuresthatthevaluesenteredintoacolumnarecorrectbymeansofbusinessrules.Say,thereis
anagecolumnanditsvalueisnegativewhichisnotcorrect.Thisconstraintrefinesfromenteringwrongage.
Similarexampleofsuchconstraintissalarycannotbenegativeemployeenumberwillbeinagivenrangeetc.
Thesearebusinessrules/requirementsthatspecifywhatkindofvaluescouldbeenteredintoeachcolumn.

Thisconstraintisdifferentfromdomainconstraintashereitchecksforthevalidityofthedatabeingenteredlike
correctageisbeingenteredCorrectEmployeeIdisenteredetc.Inthedomainconstraint,itchecks,whether
correctsetofdatabeingisenteredlikeDateisenteredintodatecolumn,Numberisenteredintonumbercolumn
etc.

UserDefinedIntegrityConstraint

https://www.tutorialcup.com/dbms/integrity.htm 2/3
5/19/2017 DatabaseIntegrity

Imagine,whileenteringasalaryofanemployee,weneedtocheckifhissalaryislessthanhismanager.Though
thisissimilartocolumnconstraint,wecannotdirectinsistthisconstraintonthecolumnasthesystemdoesnot
knowwhohismanageris.Weneedtocheckforhismanager'ssalaryfirst,ifitismorethanhisemployer,thenwe
willinsertthedata.Forthiswemanuallyneedtowritecode.ThiskindofconstraintsiscalledUserDefined
IntegrityConstraint.

ReferentialIntegrity

AswediscussedforEmployeeandDepartmenttables,iftheyarenotmappedcorrectly,therewouldbeadata
mismatch.Itwillallowustoenteradepartmentforanemployeewhichdoesnotexist.Itwillallowustodeletea
departmentforwhichemployeesareworking.Whatwouldbetheresult?Employeeswithoutanydepartmentare
notcorrect.Orupdatinganydepartmentnumberintheemployeetablewillresultinadepartmentwhichdoesnot
existatall.Allthesecaseswillleadtomismatchandinvaliddatainthedatabase.

Hencetoensureaboveallcasesaremet,properrelationshiphastobedefinedbetweentherelatedtablesby
meansofprimaryandforeignkeys.i.e.everyforeignkeyinthetableshouldbeaprimarykeyintherelatedtable.

Inourexample,DEPARTMENT_IDshouldbeaprimarykeyinDepartmenttableanditshouldbeaforeignkeyin
theEmployeetable.Thiswillstopentering/updatingadepartmentwhichdoesnotexists.Itwillnotallowusto
deleteanydepartmentfromtheDepartmenttableforwhichemployeesstillexistsinEmployeetable.

SQLInterviewQuestions

https://www.tutorialcup.com/dbms/integrity.htm 3/3