Primary key constraints Primary key information is obtained by querying the TABLE_CONSTRAINTS Table 6-11 and KEY_COLUMN_USAGE Table 6-9 information schema views.. INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TAB
Trang 1[ Team LiB ]
Recipe 6.9 Retrieving Constraints from a SQL Server Database
Problem
You need to programmatically define constraints in a DataSet and retrieve constraint information defined in a SQL Server database
Solution
Use the INFORMATION_SCHEMA views and SQL Server system tables to get
information about primary keys, foreign keys, and check constraints
The sample code contains one event handler:
Get Constraints Button.Click
Uses a SQL select statement to load the specified constraint information—primary key, foreign key, or check constraint—from the INFORMATION_SCHEMA views into a DataTable
The C# code is shown in Example 6-27
Example 6-27 File: ConstraintForm.cs
// Namespaces, variables, and constants
using System;
using System.Configuration;
using System.Data;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
using System.Data.OleDb;
private const String GETPRIMARYKEYCONSTRAINTS =
"SELECT tc.CONSTRAINT_NAME, tc.TABLE_NAME, " +
"kcu.COLUMN_NAME, kcu.ORDINAL_POSITION " +
"FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLE_CONSTRAINTS tc " +
"JOIN INFORMATION_SCHEMA.KEY_COLUMN_USAGE kcu ON " +
"tc.CONSTRAINT_NAME=kcu.CONSTRAINT_NAME " +
"WHERE tc.CONSTRAINT_TYPE='PRIMARY KEY' " +
"ORDER BY tc.TABLE_NAME, kcu.COLUMN_NAME,
kcu.ORDINAL_POSITION";
Trang 2private const String GETFOREIGNKEYCONSTRAINTS =
"SELECT rc.CONSTRAINT_NAME, rc.UPDATE_RULE, rc.DELETE_RULE, " + "kcuP.TABLE_NAME ParentTable, kcuC.TABLE_NAME ChildTable, " +
"kcuP.COLUMN_NAME ParentColumn, kcuC.COLUMN_NAME ChildColumn " + "FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.REFERENTIAL_CONSTRAINTS rc " + "LEFT JOIN INFORMATION_SCHEMA.KEY_COLUMN_USAGE kcuP ON " + "rc.UNIQUE_CONSTRAINT_NAME=kcuP.CONSTRAINT_NAME " +
"LEFT JOIN INFORMATION_SCHEMA.KEY_COLUMN_USAGE kcuC ON " + "rc.CONSTRAINT_NAME=kcuC.CONSTRAINT_NAME AND " +
"kcuP.ORDINAL_POSITION=kcuC.ORDINAL_POSITION " +
"ORDER BY kcuP.TABLE_NAME, kcuC.TABLE_NAME,
kcuP.ORDINAL_POSITION";
private const String GETCHECKCONSTRAINTS =
"SELECT tc.TABLE_NAME, tc.CONSTRAINT_NAME, cc.CHECK_CLAUSE " + "FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLE_CONSTRAINTS tc " +
"JOIN INFORMATION_SCHEMA.CHECK_CONSTRAINTS cc ON " +
"tc.CONSTRAINT_NAME=cc.CONSTRAINT_NAME " +
"WHERE CONSTRAINT_TYPE='CHECK' " +
"ORDER BY tc.TABLE_NAME, cc.CONSTRAINT_NAME";
//
private void getConstraintsButton_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
// Create the DataAdapter to retrieve schema information
SqlDataAdapter da = null;
if (primaryKeyRadioButton.Checked)
da = new SqlDataAdapter(GETPRIMARYKEYCONSTRAINTS,
ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["Sql_ConnectString"]);
else if (foreignKeyRadioButton.Checked)
da = new SqlDataAdapter(GETFOREIGNKEYCONSTRAINTS,
ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["Sql_ConnectString"]);
else if (checkRadioButton.Checked)
da = new SqlDataAdapter(GETCHECKCONSTRAINTS,
ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["Sql_ConnectString"]);
// Create and fill table with schema information
DataTable dt = new DataTable( );
da.Fill(dt);
// Bind the default view of the table with the grid
constraintsDataGrid.DataSource = dt.DefaultView;
Trang 3}
Discussion
Information schema views were first available in SQL Server 7.0 and later They provide system-table independent access to SQL Server metadata The views are based on system tables and provide a layer of abstraction that allows applications to continue to work properly if the system tables change in future releases of SQL Server Information
schema views provide an alternative to using system stored procedures that were
previously and are still available The INFORMATION_SCHEMA views conform to the SQL-92 Standard
Information schema views are defined within each database in a schema named
INFORMATION_SCHEMA To access the views, specify the fully qualified view name
In the solution, for example, the view containing metadata about the tables in the
database is accessed using the following syntax:
INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES
The metadata returned is limited to that which the user has permission to view Like any other views, information schema views can also be joined in queries or participate in complex queries to extract specific information For detailed information about the
different views available, refer to SQL Server Books Online
The following three subsections explain how the solution retrieves details about the primary key, the foreign key, and the check constraints in the database The information schema views that are used in the solution are described in the subsection following those subsections
Primary key constraints
Primary key information is obtained by querying the TABLE_CONSTRAINTS (Table 6-11) and KEY_COLUMN_USAGE (Table 6-9) information schema views The views are joined on the CONSTRAINT_NAME field and restricted to constraints with a
CONSTRAINT_TYPE of Primary Key The result set is sorted on the TABLE_NAME,
COLUMN_NAME, and ORDINAL_POSITION fields
SELECT
tc.CONSTRAINT_NAME,
tc.TABLE_NAME,
kcu.COLUMN_NAME,
kcu.ORDINAL_POSITION
FROM
Trang 4INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLE_CONSTRAINTS tc JOIN
INFORMATION_SCHEMA.KEY_COLUMN_USAGE kcu ON
tc.CONSTRAINT_NAME = kcu.CONSTRAINT_NAME
WHERE
tc.CONSTRAINT_TYPE = 'PRIMARY KEY'
ORDER BY
tc.TABLE_NAME,
kcu.COLUMN_NAME,
kcu.ORDINAL_POSITION
Foreign key constraints
Foreign key information is obtained by querying the REFERENTIAL_CONSTRAINTS (Table 6-10) and KEY_COLUMN_USAGE (Table 6-9) information schema views The REFERENTIAL_CONSTRAINTS view is joined to the KEY_COLUMN_USAGE view
on the UNIQUE_CONSTRAINT_NAME column to return information about the parent table and its columns The REFERENTIAL_CONSTRAINTS view is joined again to the KEY_COLUMN_USAGE view on the CONSTRAINT_NAME matching the
ORDINAL_POSITION of the parent column to return information about the child table and its columns The result set is sorted in ascending order on the parent
TABLE_NAME, child TABLE_NAME, and parent constraint column
ORDINAL_POSITION
SELECT
rc.CONSTRAINT_NAME,
rc.UPDATE_RULE,
rc.DELETE_RULE,
kcuP.TABLE_NAME ParentTable,
kcuC.TABLE_NAME ChildTable,
kcuP.COLUMN_NAME ParentColumn,
kcuC.COLUMN_NAME ChildColumn
FROM
INFORMATION_SCHEMA.REFERENTIAL_CONSTRAINTS rc LEFT JOIN INFORMATION_SCHEMA.KEY_COLUMN_USAGE kcuP ON
rc.UNIQUE_CONSTRAINT_NAME = kcuP.CONSTRAINT_NAME LEFT JOIN INFORMATION_SCHEMA.KEY_COLUMN_USAGE kcuC ON
rc.CONSTRAINT_NAME = kcuC.CONSTRAINT_NAME AND
kcuP.ORDINAL_POSITION = kcuC.ORDINAL_POSITION
ORDER BY
kcuP.TABLE_NAME,
kcuC.TABLE_NAME,
kcuP.ORDINAL_POSITION;
Trang 5Check constraint
Check constraint information is obtained by querying the TABLE_CONSTRAINTS
(Table 6-11) and CHECK_CONSTRAINTS (Table 6-8) information schema views The
views are joined on the CONSTRAINT_NAME field and restricted to constraints with a
CONSTRAINT_TYPE of CHECK The result set is sorted on the TABLE_NAME and
CONSTRAINT_NAME fields
SELECT
tc.TABLE_NAME,
tc.CONSTRAINT_NAME,
cc.CHECK_CLAUSE
FROM
INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLE_CONSTRAINTS tc JOIN
INFORMATION_SCHEMA.CHECK_CONSTRAINTS cc ON
tc.CONSTRAINT_NAME = cc.CONSTRAINT_NAME
WHERE
CONSTRAINT_TYPE = 'CHECK';
ORDER BY
tc.TABLE_NAME,
cc.CONSTRAINT_NAME
Information schema views used in this solution
The four information schema views used by the solution are described in this subsection
Table 6-8 describes the CHECK_CONSTRAINTS information schema view that is based
on the sysobjects and syscomments system tables This view contains one row for each
check constraint in the database
Table 6-8 CHECK_CONSTRAINTS information schema view
CONSTRAINT_CATALOG nvarchar(128) Constraint qualifier
CONSTRAINT_SCHEMA nvarchar(128) Constraint owner name
Table 6-9 describes the KEY_COLUMN_USAGE information schema view that is based
on the sysobjects, syscolumns, sysreferences, spt_values, and sysindexes system tables
Trang 6This view contains one row for each column in the current database that is constrained as
a key
Table 6-9 KEY_COLUMN_USAGE information schema view
CONSTRAINT_CATALOG nvarchar(128) Constraint qualifier
CONSTRAINT_SCHEMA nvarchar(128) Constraint owner name
Table 6-10 describes the REFERENTIAL_CONSTRAINTS information schema view
that is based on the sysobjects, sysreferences, and sysindexes system tables This view
contains one row for each foreign key constraint in the current database
Table 6-10 REFERENTIAL_CONSTRAINTS information schema view
CONSTRAINT_CATALOG nvarchar(128) Database name
CONSTRAINT_SCHEMA nvarchar(128) Constraint owner name
UNIQUE_CONSTRAINT_CATALOG nvarchar(128) Unique database name
UNIQUE_CONSTRAINT_SCHEMA nvarchar(128) Unique constraint owner name
UNIQUE_CONSTRAINT_NAME sysname Unique constraint name
MATCH_OPTION varchar(7) Referential
constraint-matching condition
UPDATE_RULE varchar(9)
Action taken if the T-SQL UPDATE statement violates referential integrity defined by the constraint
DELETE_RULE varchar(9) Action taken if the T-SQL
Trang 7DELETE statement violates referential integrity defined by the constraint
Table 6-11 describes the TABLE_CONSTRAINTS information schema view that is based on the sysobjects system table This view contains one row for each table
constraint in the current database
Table 6-11 TABLE_CONSTRAINTS information schema view
CONSTRAINT_CATALOG nvarchar(128) Constraint name
CONSTRAINT_SCHEMA nvarchar(128) Constraint owner
CONSTRAINT_NAME sysname Constraint name
TABLE_CATALOG nvarchar(128) Database name
CONSTRAINT_TYPE varchar(11) Type of constraint: CHECK, UNIQUE,
PRIMARY KEY, or FOREIGN KEY IS_DEFERRABLE varchar(2) Specifies whether constraint checking can
be deferred; always returns the value NO
INITIALLY_DEFERRED varchar(2)
Specifies whether constraint checking is initially deferred; always returns the value
NO
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