DEV Community

pooyaalamdari
pooyaalamdari

Posted on

relational database - candidate key -

CREATE TABLE League (
    TeamPosition INT,
    TeamName VARCHAR(100),
    State VARCHAR(100)
);

Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode
CREATE TABLE Teams (
    TeamName VARCHAR(100),
    Captain VARCHAR(100),
    Coach VARCHAR(100)
);
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode
CREATE TABLE Points (
    TeamPosition INT,
    TeamName VARCHAR(100),
    Points INT
);
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Based on the current Premier League standings and team details, here's how you could populate your tables with 4 rows of data:

-- Inserting data into the League table
INSERT INTO League (TeamPosition, TeamName, State)
VALUES
(1, 'Arsenal', 'London'),
(2, 'Liverpool', 'Liverpool'),
(3, 'Manchester City', 'Manchester'),
(4, 'Tottenham Hotspur', 'London');

-- Inserting data into the Teams table
INSERT INTO Teams (TeamName, Captain, Coach)
VALUES
('Arsenal', 'Martin Odegaard', 'Mikel Arteta'),
('Liverpool', 'Jordan Henderson', 'Jurgen Klopp'),
('Manchester City', 'Kevin De Bruyne', 'Pep Guardiola'),
('Tottenham Hotspur', 'Harry Kane', 'Antonio Conte');

-- Inserting data into the Points table
INSERT INTO Points (TeamPosition, TeamName, Points)
VALUES
(1, 'Arsenal', 71),
(2, 'Liverpool', 71),
(3, 'Manchester City', 70),
(4, 'Tottenham Hotspur', 60);
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Please note that the State column in the League table typically refers to a U.S. state, but in the context of the Premier League, it's more appropriate to use the city or locality of the team. The points and positions are based on the latest standings³, and the team captains and coaches are based on the most recent information available⁹[^10^]. Remember to update these details as they can change over time due to transfers, managerial changes, and other factors.

In the context of relational databases, a key attribute is a column or a set of columns that uniquely identifies each row in a table. There are different types of key attributes:

  • Primary Key: A unique identifier for each row in a table. No two rows can have the same primary key value.
  • Foreign Key: A column that creates a relationship between two tables. The foreign key in one table refers to the primary key in another table.
  • Composite Key: A combination of two or more columns that uniquely identifies each row in a table.

Based on the SQL statements you've provided, here's how the key attributes could be defined:

  1. League Table: The TeamPosition could be the primary key as it uniquely identifies each team's position in the league. However, if teams can share the same position (in case of a tie), then TeamPosition should not be the primary key. Instead, TeamName could be used as the primary key if each team name is unique.
ALTER TABLE League
ADD PRIMARY KEY (TeamName);
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode
  1. Teams Table: The TeamName is likely the primary key here, assuming each team has a unique name.
ALTER TABLE Teams
ADD PRIMARY KEY (TeamName);
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode
  1. Points Table: Similar to the League table, TeamPosition could be the primary key. However, if the positions can change or be shared among teams, it might not be suitable as a primary key. Alternatively, TeamName could be the primary key if it's unique.
ALTER TABLE Points
ADD PRIMARY KEY (TeamName);
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

In a real-world scenario, you would typically have a unique identifier that doesn't change over time, like a team_id, to serve as the primary key. This would help maintain data integrity, especially when team names or positions change from season to season.

The ALTER TABLE statement in SQL is used to modify the structure of an existing table. It can be used for various purposes, such as:

  • Adding, dropping, or modifying columns in the table.
  • Adding or dropping constraints like primary keys, foreign keys, unique constraints, etc.
  • Changing the data type of a column.

Here are some examples of how ALTER TABLE can be used:

Adding a Column:

ALTER TABLE table_name
ADD column_name data_type;
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Dropping a Column:

ALTER TABLE table_name
DROP COLUMN column_name;
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Modifying a Column's Data Type:

ALTER TABLE table_name
ALTER COLUMN column_name SET DATA TYPE new_data_type;
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Adding a Primary Key:

ALTER TABLE table_name
ADD PRIMARY KEY (column_name);
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Adding a Foreign Key:

ALTER TABLE table_name
ADD FOREIGN KEY (column_name) REFERENCES other_table (other_table_column);
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Remember to replace table_name, column_name, data_type, new_data_type, other_table, and other_table_column with the actual table names, column names, and data types relevant to your database schema. Use ALTER TABLE with caution, as changes to the table structure can impact data integrity and application functionality. Always ensure you have a backup before making structural changes to a database.

candidate key
In the context of relational databases, a candidate key is a set of attributes that uniquely identify rows in a table. A table may have multiple candidate keys, but each candidate key must satisfy two conditions:

  1. Uniqueness: No two rows can have the same value of the candidate key.
  2. Minimality: No subset of the candidate key can satisfy the uniqueness condition.

From the given tables, let's identify potential candidate keys:

  1. League Table: The TeamPosition could be a candidate key if each team has a unique position. However, if positions can be shared (e.g., in case of a tie), then TeamPosition alone would not be a candidate key. TeamName could be another candidate key if each team name is unique across the league.

  2. Teams Table: The TeamName is likely a candidate key here, assuming each team has a unique name and there are no two teams with the same name.

  3. Points Table: The TeamPosition could be a candidate key if it uniquely identifies each row. However, since positions can change and might not be unique, TeamName could be a better candidate key, assuming it's unique.

In practice, a primary key is chosen from the set of candidate keys. The primary key is then used to enforce entity integrity by ensuring that each row in the table is uniquely identifiable. The other candidate keys not chosen as the primary key are often referred to as alternate keys. If a candidate key consists of more than one attribute, it is called a composite key.

For the tables you've provided, assuming that TeamName is unique across all tables, it would be a suitable candidate key for all three tables. However, in a real-world scenario, it's common to use a surrogate key (like an auto-incrementing ID) that doesn't have any business meaning but serves as a unique identifier for each row.

A composite key is a type of candidate key that consists of two or more columns, which together uniquely identify each row in a table. In your tables, a composite key would be necessary if no single column can serve as a unique identifier by itself.

Let's consider the Points table from your example:

CREATE TABLE Points (
    TeamPosition INT,
    TeamName VARCHAR(100),
    Points INT
);
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

If both TeamPosition and TeamName are needed to uniquely identify a row because neither alone is unique, they can be combined to form a composite key. Here's how you would define a composite key for the Points table:

ALTER TABLE Points
ADD PRIMARY KEY (TeamPosition, TeamName);
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

In this case, the combination of TeamPosition and TeamName must be unique across all rows in the Points table. This ensures that no two teams can have the same position and name simultaneously, which aligns with the real-world scenario where a team can only occupy one position in the league at a time.

Composite keys are particularly useful in association tables that represent many-to-many relationships between entities. They help maintain data integrity by preventing duplicate entries for the same combination of related entities.

Top comments (0)