Referential Integrity in Associations¶

An association may represent a referential constraint (i.e. a foreign key relationship), which means that every row of the Dependent view has a match in the Principal view following the Condition mapping.

As with primary keys, Virtual DataPort does not enforce referential integrity of the data. That is, that Virtual DataPort does not enforce that each row of the dependent view has a match in the principal view of the association. It is the responsibility of the source to keep this integrity and of the user to define the associations correctly. Failing to do so correctly, could even lead to getting the wrong results in some queries.

To mark an association as a referential constraint, select the Referential constraint check box in the “View Association” dialog and then, select the Principal view of the association.

The JDBC and ODBC interfaces of Virtual DataPort publish the associations marked as referential constraints, as foreign keys of the dependent view of the association.