Re: definning table key

adel@q8petroleum.com.kw (Adel Al-jouhar) writes: >I 've created a table with 8 columns, 6 of them to define >one record (key), this table updated once a year >the second table contains 7 columns (the same above 6 columns + 1) >now this table is updated weekly >can I do better than that, regarding key structure....? What might be best is to have 2 primary keys in the first table, one being a single SERIAL column. You can then replace the 6 columns in the child table with a single INTEGER column that joins to the SERIAL. Your UPDATEs and SELECTs from the child table will be quicker, almost certainly. ======================================================================= Dennis J. Pimple dennisp@informix.com Opinions expressed Senior Consultant -------------------- are mine, and do not Informix Software Inc Voice: 303-850-0210 necessarily reflect Denver Colorado USA Fax: 303-779-4025 those of my employer.