Sybase 12.4.2 Manuale Utente

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C H A P T E R   7
Ensuring Data Integrity
About this chapter
This chapter describes facilities for ensuring that the data in your database 
is valid and reliable. These facilities include constraints on tables and 
columns, and choosing appropriate data types. 
The SQL statements in this chapter use the CREATE TABLE statement 
and ALTER TABLE statement, basic forms of which were introduced in 
Chapter 3, “Working with Database Objects”
Data integrity overview
For data to have integrity means that the data is valid—that is, correct and 
accurate—and that the relational structure of the database is intact. The 
relational structure of the database is described through referential 
integrity constraints, business rules that maintain the consistency of data 
between tables.
Adaptive Server IQ supports stored procedures and JDBC, which allow 
you detailed control over how data gets entered into the database. 
Procedures are discussed in Chapter 6, “Using Procedures and Batches” 
See the Adaptive Server Anywhere User’s Guide for information on JDBC.
How data can become invalid
Here are a few examples of how the data in a database may become invalid 
if proper checks are not made. Each of these examples can be prevented 
by facilities described in this chapter.
Incorrectly formatted 
information 
An operator enters text where numeric data is required.
An operator enters numeric data that is too wide for the column.
Duplicated data
A new department has been created, with 
dept_id 
200, and needs to 
be added to the department table of the organization's database—but 
two people enter this information into the table.