Question about Primary Keys

[Helystra]

I have a question about single and multi field primary keys.



For example in my employees table I have the autonumber ID field, first name and last name. That relates to a Certifications table where I track the employee's certifications.

On the form for certifications, I would like to see the employee's name when I'm entering the data for their certifications. Will I be able to do that if I only set the autonumber as the primary key or do I need to include the first and last name fields in the primary key as well for that to happen?

[Dal Jeanis]

Use only the autonumber field as the key - the rest is not needed. When you need to display the name, you'll build it using either a join, a dlookup, or a combobox bound to the autonumber but set to display the name, depending on the circumstances of usage.

[June7]

Names are tricky. Need to allow duplication because people can have same name. It might be rare for your data but not impossible. For this reason they make poor keys.

Including names with ID as compound key won't prevent creating a new record for same person in Employees table and doesn't help to find correct person for Certification record. Use additional info to verify identity.

I do everything I can to avoid compound keys.

Agree with Dal, save the autonumber as foreign key and retrieve name info as described.

[Helystra]

Great thanks.