triggerrs or foreign keys????pleaseeee

[korel038]

Hi there...a simple question for u guys that i am sure do know a lot more than me since i am just a beginner in sql server...(i have used 7 and 2000)but for a little while...

which is faster....?(and recommendable)
triggers or relationships(foreign keys)...and if possible why!
Thanks in advance!
john

 

[JamesLean]

Depends entirely on what you want to do?! If you want to simply set up relationships between tables using foreign keys then use foreign key constraints. All these do is check when you insert a value in the specified column that it exists in the referenced column. They also don't allow deletions from the referenced column if the value still exists in the specified column.

Triggers allow you to specify actions to take when rows are inserted, updated or deleted. You can check the values and take different actions depending on them, code complex logic etc. Be aware that triggers can affect performance of the table quite drastically if not designed and coded well, as all actions will only commit once the trigger has completed.

--James