Mysql – Problem with foreign keys

MySQL

I do

ALTER TABLE bdt.auth 
    ADD CONSTRAINT `depositor no.` 
      FOREIGN KEY ( `depositor no.` ) 
         REFERENCES bdt.depositors( `depositor no.` ) 
            ON DELETE CASCADE 
            ON UPDATE CASCADE

I get

Can't create table 'bdt.#sql-881_140' (errno: 121)

Fields are identical
There is no defined constraints:

SELECT
   constraint_name,
   table_name
FROM
   information_schema.table_constraints
WHERE
   constraint_type = 'FOREIGN KEY'
AND table_schema = DATABASE()
ORDER BY
   constraint_name;

Result

Empty set (0.01 sec)

Best Answer

The error is that you're trying to use a constraint that is already identified.

SELECT
   constraint_name,
   table_name
FROM
   information_schema.table_constraints
WHERE
   constraint_type = 'FOREIGN KEY'
AND table_schema = DATABASE()
ORDER BY
   constraint_name;

Should give you the constraints you've already established. Also, you can use SHOW ENGINE INNODB STATUS or SHOW INNODB STATUS after you get the error to get the logs and more information.

Related Solutions

Mysql constraint problem

From what I can tell, you'll have to create the 'some_value' in table3. Here's a link to the manual page on foreign key constraints

There is an example with a 'complex' foreign key constraint that is similar to your setup, which duplicates the content in the third table. There is (minimal) comfort in knowing that hey, at least it's handled by a Foreign Key.

Mysql – “Cannot add or update a child row” when deleting a record

On the face of it, that does seem impossible.

The thing is, your error suggests it's not that you're trying to delete at all.

The message you're getting suggests you're trying to insert or update a row in the child table, not delete a row from the parent table. If the foreign key you posted was causing the problem relative to a delete, you should see this message, instead:

Cannot delete or update a parent row: a foreign key constraint fails (`test`.`bar`, CONSTRAINT `bar_ibfk_1` FOREIGN KEY (`foo_id`) REFERENCES `foo` (`id`))

It's also possible you have some BEFORE DELETE trigger magic on survey_main that's doing something unexpected.

Right after this error occurs, try this:

SHOW ENGINE INNODB STATUS;

The LATEST FOREIGN KEY ERROR section should give you something more to go on. Failing that, you could enable the general log, which will show queries executed by triggers and other stored programs, as well as the queries you're directly executing, to shed light on what might be going on behind the scenes.

Update (#1) Things are definitely not as they seem and the full table definitions are going to be pretty critical, here.

Also, the version of MySQL you're using may also be relevant, so please mention it.

With nothing more to go on at the moment, I'm speculating that you have invalid data in the survey_id column of the survey_answers table. To test that theory:

SELECT *
  FROM survey_answers sa
  LEFT JOIN survey_main sm ON sm.id = sa.survey_id
 WHERE sm.id IS NULL;

If I understand your schema correctly, then this query will return zero rows if I am wrong. :) If you get rows returned, then those rows have survey_answers records that contain an survey_id value that doesn't exist in the id column of survey_main.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Mysql constraint problem

Mysql – “Cannot add or update a child row” when deleting a record

Related Question