INF: Support for Referential Integrity in SQL Server

ID: Q132949

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft SQL Server version 6.0

SUMMARY

Microsoft SQL Server version 6.0 now includes support for declarative referential integrity via CONSTRAINTS as defined by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) X3.135-1992 specification. Therefore, the system stored procedures sp_primarykey, sp_foreignkey, sp_helpkey, sp_helpjoins, sp_dropkey, and sp_commonkey are now obsolete.

MORE INFORMATION

The stored procedures listed above, and the system catalog table syskeys, are still available for use in SQL Server version 6.0 for backward compatibility. However, they are no longer documented and are now obsolete for primary and foreign key definitions.

These procedures may not be available in future versions of SQL Server. Therefore, you should use declarative referential integrity using CONSTRAINTS to define primary and foreign keys.

NOTE: See the SQL Server "Administrator's Companion," "Database Developer's Companion," or the "Transact-SQL Reference" for more information on using CONSTRAINTS for referential integrity.

Additional query words: sql6 alter sysconstraints Windows NT


Keywords          : kbother kbusage SSrvStProc SSrvWinNT 
Version           : 4.21a 6.0
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        :

Last Reviewed: April 16, 1999