>Tyson,
>
>FWIW, all my tables use integer keys for PK and FK. I don't have any need to use concatenated keys because it's much better to use parameterized views which can be in order of the field you'd have concatenated.
>
>>I'm inquiring to see if there is any reason to not use keys of integer type. The only one I can think of off-hand is that I wouldn't be able to concatinate keys together (easily). TIA
The only time I use character PKs is for lookup tables -- this is done because of the bad behaviour of comboboxes. If I were to delete a record in the middle of the table (i.e., a PK is now skipped), numeric or integer fields screw-up cbox behaviour, where character keys do not.
So, in my data tables, the FK are also character to match the PK in the lookup table.
Mark McCasland
Midlothian, TX USA