Referential Integrity in Databases

Referential Integrity is a well-known notion in relational databases, in general represented by FOREIGN KEY to PRIMARY KEY referential constraints. Referential Integrity maintenance is supported in the SQL standard by referential actions, e.g., ON DELETE CASCADE. In our previous work, we have investigated a logic-based semantics of referential actions, showing that referential actions in general cause severe problems. For XML data, referential integrity carries over with the XML schema key and keyref concepts, showing that the problem remains relevant in the database world.

• Understanding the Global Semantics of Referential Actions using Logic Rules. Wolfgang May, Bertram Ludäscher; ACM Transactions on Database Systems (TODS) 27(4), pp. 343-397, 2002.
• Referential Actions: From Logical Semantics to Implementation. Bertram Ludäscher, Wolfgang May; 6th. Intl. Conference on Extending Database Technology (EDBT'98), LNCS 1377, Springer, pp. 404-418.
• Referential Actions as Logical Rules. Bertram Ludäscher, Wolfgang May, Georg Lausen; 16th. ACM Symposium on Principles of Database Systems (PODS 97), pp. 217-224.
• Towards a Logical Semantics for Referential Actions in SQL. Bertram Ludäscher, Wolfgang May, Joachim Reinert; 6th Intl. Workshop on Foundations of Models and Languages for Data and Objects (FMLDO'96), University of Magdeburg, Faculty of Computer Science, Preprint No. 4, pp. 57-72, 1996.