Integrity Constraints

Integrity Constraints
o Integrity constraints are a set of rules. It is used to maintain the quality of information.
o Integrity constraints ensure that the data insertion, updating, and other processes have to be
performed in such a way that data integrity is not affected.
o Thus, integrity constraint is used to guard against accidental damage to the database.
Types of Integrity Constraint
1. Domain constraints
o Domain constraints can be defined as the definition of a valid set of values for an attribute.
o The data type of domain includes string, character, integer, time, date, currency, etc. The value of the
attribute must be available in the corresponding domain.
Example:
2. Entity integrity constraints
o The entity integrity constraint states that primary key value can't be null.
o This is because the primary key value is used to identify individual rows in relation and if the primary
key has a null value, then we can't identify those rows.
o A table can contain a null value other than the primary key field.
Example:
3. Referential Integrity Constraints
o A referential integrity constraint is specified between two tables.

o In the Referential integrity constraints, if a foreign key in Table 1 refers to the Primary Key of Table 2,
then every value of the Foreign Key in Table 1 must be null or be available in Table 2.
Example:
4. Key constraints
o Keys are the entity set that is used to identify an entity within its entity set uniquely.
o An entity set can have multiple keys, but out of which one key will be the primary key. A primary key
can contain a unique and null value in the relational table.
Example:
The Enhanced ER Model
As the complexity of data increased in the late 1980s, it became more and more difficult
to use the traditional ER Model for database modelling. Hence some improvements or
enhancements were made to the existing ER Model to make it able to handle the
complex applications better.
Hence, as part of the Enhanced ER Model, along with other improvements, three new
concepts were added to the existing ER Model, they were:
1. Generalization
2. Specialization
3. Aggregration
Let's understand what they are, and why were they added to the existing ER Model.
Generalization
o Generalization is like a bottom-up approach in which two or more entities of lower level combine to
form a higher level entity if they have some attributes in common.
o In generalization, an entity of a higher level can also combine with the entities of the lower level to
form a further higher level entity.
o Generalization is more like subclass and superclass system, but the only difference is the approach.
Generalization uses the bottom-up approach.
o In generalization, entities are combined to form a more generalized entity, i.e., subclasses are
combined to make a superclass.
For example, Faculty and Student entities can be generalized and create a higher level entity Person.
Specialization
o Specialization is a top-down approach, and it is opposite to Generalization. In
specialization, one higher level entity can be broken down into two lower level
entities.
o Specialization is used to identify the subset of an entity set that shares some
distinguishing characteristics.
o Normally, the superclass is defined first, the subclass and its related attributes are
defined next, and relationship set are then added.
For example: In an Employee management system, EMPLOYEE entity can be specialized

as TESTER or DEVELOPER based on what role they play in the company.
Aggregation –
An ER diagram is not capable of representing relationship between an entity
and a relationship which may be required in some scenarios. In those cases, a
relationship with its corresponding entities is aggregated into a higher level
entity. Aggregation is an abstraction through which we can represent
relationships as higher level entity sets.
For Example, Employee working for a project may require some machinery. So,
REQUIRE relationship is needed between relationship WORKS_FOR and entity
MACHINERY. Using aggregation, WORKS_FOR relationship with its entities
EMPLOYEE and PROJECT is aggregated into single entity and relationship
REQUIRE is created between aggregated entity and MACHINERY.

DBMS LANGUAGE:
Structured Query Language(SQL) as we all know is the database language by
the use of which we can perform certain operations on the existing database
and also we can use this language to create a database. SQL uses certain
commands like Create, Drop, Insert, etc. to carry out the required tasks.
These SQL commands are mainly categorized into four categories as:

1. DDL – Data Definition Language
2. DQl – Data Query Language
3. DML – Data Manipulation Language
4. DCL – Data Control Language
1.DDL(Data Definition Language) : DDL or Data Definition Language actually
consists of the SQL commands that can be used to define the database
schema. It simply deals with descriptions of the database schema and is used
to create and modify the structure of database objects in the database.

Examples of DDL commands:
 CREATE – is used to create the database or its objects (like table, index,
function, views, store procedure and triggers).
 DROP – is used to delete objects from the database.
 ALTER-is used to alter the structure of the database.
 TRUNCATE–is used to remove all records from a table, including all spaces
allocated for the records are removed.
 COMMENT –is used to add comments to the data dictionary.
 RENAME –is used to rename an object existing in the database.
2.DQL (Data Query Language) :
DQL statements are used for performing queries on the data within schema
objects. The purpose of the DQL Command is to get some schema relation
based on the query passed to it.
Example of DQL:
 SELECT – is used to retrieve data from the database.
3.DML(Data Manipulation Language): The SQL commands that deals with the
manipulation of data present in the database belong to DML or Data
Manipulation Language and this includes most of the SQL statements.
Examples of DML:
 INSERT – is used to insert data into a table.
 UPDATE – is used to update existing data within a table.
 DELETE – is used to delete records from a database table.
4.DCL(Data Control Language): DCL includes commands such as GRANT
and REVOKE which mainly deal with the rights, permissions and other controls
of the database system.
Examples of DCL commands:
 GRANT-gives users access privileges to the database.
 REVOKE-withdraw user’s access privileges given by using the GRANT
command.
TCL(transaction Control Language): TCL commands deal with
the transaction within the database .
Examples of TCL commands:
 COMMIT– commits a Transaction.
 ROLLBACK– rollbacks a transaction in case of any error occurs.
 SAVEPOINT–sets a savepoint within a transaction.
 SET TRANSACTION–specify characteristics for the transaction.

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Integrity Constraints

Types of Integrity Constraint

3. Referential Integrity Constraints

o A referential integrity constraint is specified between two tables.

For example: In an Employee management system, EMPLOYEE entity can be specialized

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