>>>>>Hi All,
>>>>>
>>>>>My problem is, when I add a new person to my Parent table I also need to add theit Social Security number to about 8 other tables (SSAN is a candidate key). I don't know how to go about creating a custom procedure and modify my referential integrity. Is there anybody out there who have these same requirements and how did you go about accomplishing the task. Using VFP 5.0.
>>>>>
>>>>>Thanks in advance
>>>>>
>>>>>Jon
>>>>
>>>>YIKES!!!!!
>>>>
>>>>Are you using SSN as a key????? YIKES!!!! SSN is NOT unique. There are duplicates. I went to college with two people that had the same SSN. Talk about a nightmare.
>>>>
>>>They should be unique identifiers for U.S. citizens, but due to fraud/error it's possible to have trouble, as you say...
>>
>>It's not just fraud. Error is the main problem. The government has issued duplicate SSNs.
>>
>I'm not saying that error doesn't/can't occur, but it is true that most universities, fed/state/local governments, and many businesses use SSN as unique key without serious problem. It generally works fine, but you should definitely build in a check to verify uniqueness before you add a new SSN to your DB.

One other thing to consider here when using SSN as a key. If there are no tax implications, you can refuse to give your SSN. I know several people who do this. If this happens, you need someway to generate a bogus key.

Craig