Can table columns with a foreign key be null?

Question

For example, I have a table which has several ID columns to other tables. I want a foreign key to force integrity only if I do put data in there. If I do an update at a later time to populate that column then it will still check the constraint (this is likely database server dependant, i'm using MySQL & InnoDB table type). I believe this is a reasonable expectation, but correct me if I am wrong.

Answer 1

Yes, that will work as you expect it to. Unfortunately, I seem to be having trouble to find an explicit statement of this in the MySQL manual.

Foreign keys mean the value must exist in the other table. NULL refers to the absence of value, so when you set a column to NULL, it wouldn't make sense to try to enforce constraints on that.

Answer 2

Yes, you can enforce the constraint only when the value is not NULL. This can be easily tested with the following example:

CREATE DATABASE t;
USE t;

CREATE TABLE parent (id INT NULL,
                     PRIMARY KEY (id)
) ENGINE=INNODB;

CREATE TABLE child (id INT NULL, 
                    parent_id INT NULL,
                    FOREIGN KEY (parent_id) REFERENCES parent(id)
) ENGINE=INNODB;


INSERT INTO child (id, parent_id) VALUES (1, NULL);
-- Query OK, 1 row affected (0.01 sec)


INSERT INTO child (id, parent_id) VALUES (2, 1);

-- ERROR 1452 (23000): Cannot add or update a child row: a foreign key 
-- constraint fails (`t/child`, CONSTRAINT `child_ibfk_1` FOREIGN KEY
-- (`parent_id`) REFERENCES `parent` (`id`))

The first insert will pass because we insert a NULL in the parent_id. The second insert fails because of the foreign key constraint, since we tried to insert a value that does not exist in the parent table.