Create, Check and Drop FOREIGN KEY CONSTRAINT on SQL SERVER Table

Introduction: What is foreign key and how to define/add/create/implement foreign key constraint
on SQL server table.

Description: In this article you will learn following:

• What is FOREIGN KEY?

• How to create FOREIGN KEY CONSTRAINT on SQL SERVER Table
• How to create FOREIGN KEY CONSTRAINT on existing table using ALTER and ADD
command
• How to check PRIMARY,FOREIGN,UNIQUE KEY and other CONSTRAINTS defined on
table
• How to remove/drop FOREIGN KEY CONSTRAINT from table using ALTER and
DROP command

What is a Foreign Key?

In simple words A FOREIGN KEY in one table points to a PRIMARY KEY in another table.
or
A foreign key is a column(s) in one table that references a unique column usually the primary key
of another table. The purpose of the foreign key is to ensure referential integrity of the data.
The referenced table is called the parent table while the table with the foreign key is called
the child table.

Implementation: Let’s understand the concept of foreign key constraint by implementing

it on tables. For this we are going to create two table tbDepartment and tbEmployee.

First create a parent Table "tbDepartment" containing primary key "DeptId" that will become
foreign key in child Table "tbEmployee"

CREATE TABLE tbDepartment

(
DeptId INT IDENTITY(1,1) PRIMARY KEY, --define primary key
DeptName varchar (50) NOT NULL
)

• Insert some data in tbDepartment table using following queries

INSERT INTO tbDepartment(DeptName) VALUES ('SALES')

INSERT INTO tbDepartment(DeptName) VALUES ('ACCOUNTS')
INSERT INTO tbDepartment(DeptName) VALUES ('HRM')
 • Check inserted data using the query

SELECT * FROM tbDepartment

It will be as:
DeptId DeptName
1 SALES
2 ACCOUNTS
3 HRM

• Now create Child Table "tbEmployee" containing foreign key "DeptId" which is the
primary key in "tbDepartment" parent table

I have mentioned two ways to create foreign key in a table. You can use any of the two.

First way:
CREATE TABLE tbEmployee
(
EmpId INT IDENTITY(1,1) PRIMARY KEY, --define primary key
FirstName VARCHAR (50) NOT NULL,
LastName VARCHAR (50) NOT NULL,
Age INT,
DeptId INT FOREIGN KEY REFERENCES tbDepartment(DeptId) --define foreign key
)

Or Second way:
CREATE TABLE tbEmployee
(
EmpId INT IDENTITY(1,1) PRIMARY KEY, --define primary key
FirstName VARCHAR (50) NOT NULL ,
LastName VARCHAR (50) NOT NULL,
Age INT,
DeptId INT,
CONSTRAINT FK_tbEmployee_tbDepartment FOREIGN KEY (DeptId) REFERENCES
tbDepartment(DeptId) --define foreign key with name
)

Note: In first way we are not providing the name of our foreign key constraint . So it will
automatically create a default name somewhat like "FK__tbEmploye__DeptI__0EA330E9"
for the foreign key constraint . But in second way we are specifying the name of the foreign
key constraint (FK_tbEmployee_tbDepartment).
 • Insert some data in tbEmployee table using following queries

INSERT INTO tbEmployee(FirstName,LastName,Age,DeptId) VALUES ('Aryan','Thakur',25,1)

INSERT INTO tbEmployee(FirstName,LastName,Age,DeptId) VALUES ('Simran','Kaur',24,1)
INSERT INTO tbEmployee(FirstName,LastName,Age,DeptId) VALUES ('Kunaal','Sharma',26,3)

Check inserted data using the query

SELECT * FROM tbEmployee

It will be as:
EmpId FirstName LastName Age DeptId
1 Aryan Thakur 25 1
2 Simran Kaur 24 1
3 Kunaal Sharma 26 3

Note: DeptId in tbEmployee table is defined as foreign key which is the primary key of
tbDepartment table. It means DeptId in tbEmployee table refers to DeptId in tbDepartment
table.

Congrats you have defined foreign key constraint. To check the defined constraint read
the article How to check PRIMARY,FOREIGN,UNIQUE and other KEY CONSTRAINTS in sql
server table

Check PRIMARY, FOREIGN, UNIQUE KEY CONSTRAINTS in SQL SERVER table

Introduction: How to get/find/check all the constraints defined on SQL server table.

Description: You can check the primary key constraint, foreign key constraint, unique key
constraint or other constraint defined on table using any of the following two easiest
commands.

Implementation: Let's check both commands

First command:
Syntax is: EXEC sp_helpconstraint 'TableName'

For example:

EXEC sp_helpconstraint 'tbEmployee'

Above command will show you all the constraints defined on table
Second command:
Syntax is: sp_help 'TableName'

For example:

sp_help 'tbEmployee'

Above command will show you all the constraints defined on table at the bottom along with
other useful information regarding the table.

Note: tbEmployee is the name of the table whose constraints we want to check

How to create FOREIGN KEY Constraint on existing table

What if we have created the child table tbEmployee without defining the foreign key constraint on DeptId
column. E.g.

CREATE TABLE tbEmployee

EmpId INT IDENTITY(1,1) PRIMARY KEY, --define primary key

FirstName VARCHAR (50) NOT NULL,

LastName VARCHAR (50) NOT NULL,

Age INT,

DeptId INT

In above table we have not defined the foreign key constraint on the DeptId column. But still we can add
foreign key constraint on existing table using the following two ways.

Syntax is

ALTER TABLE ChildTableName ADD FOREIGN KEY (ColumnName)

REFERENCES ParentTablePersons(ColumnName)

For example:

ALTER TABLE tbEmployee ADD FOREIGN KEY (DeptId)

REFERENCES tbDepartment (DeptId)

Or
Syntax is:

ALTER TABLE ChildTableName ADD CONSTRAINT ForeignKeyConstraintName FOREIGN KEY

(ColumnName)
REFERENCES ParentTablePersons(ColumnName)

For example:

ALTER TABLE tbEmployee ADD CONSTRAINT FK_tbEmployee_tbDepartment FOREIGN KEY

(DeptId)
REFERENCES tbDepartment (DeptId)

Note: In first way we are not providing the name of our forign key constraint. So it will
automatically create a default name e.g. "FK__tbEmploye__DeptI__0EA330E9" for the
foreign key constraint. But in second way we are specifying the name of the foreign key
constraint(FK_tbEmployee_tbDepartment).

How to DROP a FOREIGN KEY Constraint

Suppose for some reason you need to drop the foreign key constraint then you can use the
alter command to drop the constraint
The syntax is

ALTER TABLE TableName

DROP CONSTRAINT ForeignKeyConstraintName

For example

ALTER TABLE tbEmployee

DROP CONSTRAINT FK_tbEmployee_tbDepartment
Points to remember:
1) The FOREIGN KEY constraint prevents the actions that could destroy links between tables.

For example:
DELETE FROM tbDepartment WHERE DeptId=1

In above query I am trying to delete the department whose id is 1 but since there are records in
tbemployee table that refers the DeptId 1 of tbDepartment table, following error occurs

The DELETE statement conflicted with the REFERENCE constraint

"FK_tbEmployee_tbDepartment". The conflict occurred in database "DbEmp", table
"dbo.tbEmployee", column 'DeptId'.

2) The value entered into the column of a FOREIGN KEY constraint must either exist in the
referenced column or it could be NULL; otherwise, a foreign key violation error message is
returned. The FOREIGN KEY constraint also prevents invalid data from being inserted into the
foreign key column, because it must to be one of the values contained in the table it points to. So it
maintains referential integrity - this means that there must be a corresponding record in the other
table

For example execute the query

INSERT INTO tbEmployee(FirstName,LastName,Age,DeptId) VALUES ('Varun','Sharma',26,30)

Since there is no department with DeptId 30 in tbDepartment table, a foreign key violation error
message is returned as:

The INSERT statement conflicted with the FOREIGN KEY constraint

"FK_tbEmployee_tbDepartment". The conflict occurred in database " DbEmp ", table
"dbo.tbDepartment", column 'DeptId'.

Also for example execute the query

INSERT INTO tbEmployee(FirstName,LastName,Age,DeptId) VALUES ('Hardeep','Singh',26,null)

Above query will run successfully

3) Besides referencing a primary key of another table, a foreign key can also reference a
column that has the UNIQUE constraint.

4) FOREIGN KEY constraints can be defined to refer only tables within the same database
on the same server

5) The data type of the both the participating columns must be same

6) We can’t define foreign key constraints on temporary tables.

Difference between Primary Key and Foreign Key in SQL Server
Primary Key
A primary key is a column or a set of columns
that can be used to uniquely identify a row in
a table. It enforces the implicit NOT NULL
constraint.
Syntax to create Primary Key:
CREATE TABLE tbDepartment
( (
--define primary key
DeptId INT IDENTITY(1,1) PRIMARY KEY,
DeptName varchar (50) NOT NULL
) LastName VARCHAR (50) NOT NULL,
Primary Key doesn’t allow null values.
A table can have a single primary key.
Primary Key can’t be duplicate. It means same
value cannot be entered in the primary key
column.
By default primary key implicitly creates a
clustered index on the column and data in the
table is physically organized in the sequence
of clustered index.
We can define primary key constraint on
temporary table
We can define primary key constraint on
table variable
Foreign Key
A foreign key is a column(s) in one table that
references a unique column usually the
primary key of another table. The purpose of
the foreign key is to ensure referential
integrity of the data. The referenced table is
called the parent table while the table with
the foreign key is called the child table.
Syntax to create foreign key:
CREATE TABLE tbEmployee
--define primary key
EmpId INT IDENTITY(1,1) PRIMARY KEY,
FirstName VARCHAR (50) NOT NULL,
--define foreign key
DeptId INT FOREIGN KEY REFERENCES
tbDepartment(DeptId)
)
Foreign key can have multiple null values.
We can have multiple foreign keys in a table
that can reference different tables.
Foreign key can be duplicated. It means same
value can be entered in foreign key column.
Foreign key do not automatically create an
index (clustered or non-clustered) but we can
explicitly create an index on foreign key
column.
We can’t define foreign key constraint on
temporary table
We can't define foreign key constraint on
table variable
We can insert a value in primary key column We can't insert a value in foreign key column
that may or may not be present in child table that is not present in the primary key column
containing the foreign key. in the referenced parent table.

We can't delete primary key value from the We can delete the foreign key value from the
parent table which is used as a foreign key in child table even though that refers to the
child table. To delete we first need to delete primary key of the parent table.
that primary key value from the child table.