Sorry guys, I just learned that ctrl-return would send the email you are composing, so I got cut off short, so let me try again :-/
It appears to be usual practice from what I can see in this list to use a primary key that actually contain somewhat meaningful data. I have always used primary keys solely for one purpose only: To identify a table row uniquely, using auto incremental integers. Actually, if I were to use a unique number in an application, I would add a column to the table for just that. I would never use the primary key. The table may contain foreign keys and those may hold an entirely different value than this primary - even though the other table would share a one to one relationship. I have always felt, that if you would rely on a primary key for holding somewhat meaningful data, somewhere down the road it could spell trouble. Anyway, I just wanted to hear if anybody would share their thoughts on any advantages or drawbacks as to having the primary key contain meaningful data. Peter Normann -- MySQL General Mailing List For list archives: http://lists.mysql.com/mysql To unsubscribe: http://lists.mysql.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]