[sql-server] How do I use cascade delete with SQL Server?

I have 2 tables: T1 and T2, they are existing tables with data. We have a one to many relationship between T1 and T2. How do I alter the table definitions to perform cascading delete in SQL Server when a record from T1 is deleted, all associated records in T2 also deleted.

The foreign constraint is in place between them. I don't want to drop the tables or create a trigger to do the deletion for T2. For example, when I delete an employee, all the review record should be gone, too.

T1 - Employee,

Employee ID      
Name
Status

T2 - Performance Reviews,

Employee ID - 2009 Review
Employee ID - 2010 Review

Use something like

ALTER TABLE T2
ADD CONSTRAINT fk_employee
FOREIGN KEY (employeeID)
REFERENCES T1 (employeeID)
ON DELETE CASCADE;

Fill in the correct column names and you should be set. As mark_s correctly stated, if you have already a foreign key constraint in place, you maybe need to delete the old one first and then create the new one.

I think you cannot just delete the tables property what if this is actual production data, just delete the contents that dont affect the table schema.

You will need to,

• Drop the existing foreign key constraint,
• Add a new one with the ON DELETE CASCADE setting enabled.

Something like:

ALTER TABLE dbo.T2
   DROP CONSTRAINT FK_T1_T2   -- or whatever it's called

ALTER TABLE dbo.T2
   ADD CONSTRAINT FK_T1_T2_Cascade
   FOREIGN KEY (EmployeeID) REFERENCES dbo.T1(EmployeeID) ON DELETE CASCADE

If the one to many relationship is from T1 to T2 then it doesn't represent a function and therefore cannot be used to deduce or infer an inverse function that guarantees the resulting T2 value doesn't omit tuples of T1 join T2 that are deductively valid, because there is no deductively valid inverse function. ( representing functions was the purpose of primary keys. ) The answer in SQL think is yes you can do it. The answer in relational think is no you can't do it. See points of ambiguity in Codd 1970. The relationship would have to be many-to-one from T1 to T2.

ON DELETE CASCADE
It specifies that the child data is deleted when the parent data is deleted.

CREATE TABLE products
( product_id INT PRIMARY KEY,
  product_name VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
  category VARCHAR(25)
);

CREATE TABLE inventory
( inventory_id INT PRIMARY KEY,
  product_id INT NOT NULL,
  quantity INT,
  min_level INT,
  max_level INT,
  CONSTRAINT fk_inv_product_id
    FOREIGN KEY (product_id)
    REFERENCES products (product_id)
    ON DELETE CASCADE
);

For this foreign key, we have specified the ON DELETE CASCADE clause which tells SQL Server to delete the corresponding records in the child table when the data in the parent table is deleted. So in this example, if a product_id value is deleted from the products table, the corresponding records in the inventory table that use this product_id will also be deleted.

First To Enable ONCascade property:

1.Drop the existing foreign key constraint

2.add a new one with the ON DELETE CASCADE setting enabled

Ex:

IF EXISTS(SELECT 1 FROM sys.foreign_keys WHERE parent_object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'dbo.Response'))
 BEGIN 

ALTER TABLE [dbo].[Response] DROP CONSTRAINT [FK_Response_Request]  

ALTER TABLE [dbo].[Response] WITH CHECK ADD CONSTRAINT [FK_Response_Request]  FOREIGN KEY([RequestId])
REFERENCES [dbo].[Request] ([RequestId])
ON DELETE CASCADE
END

ELSE

 BEGIN 
 ALTER TABLE [dbo].[Response] WITH CHECK ADD CONSTRAINT [FK_Response_Request]  FOREIGN KEY([RequestId])
REFERENCES [dbo].[Request] ([RequestId])
ON DELETE CASCADE
END

Second To Disable ONCascade property:

1.Drop the existing foreign key constraint

2.Add a new one with the ON DELETE NO ACTION setting enabled

Ex:

IF EXISTS(SELECT 1 FROM sys.foreign_keys WHERE parent_object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'dbo.Response'))
 BEGIN 
ALTER TABLE [dbo].[Response] DROP CONSTRAINT [FK_Response_Request]  

ALTER TABLE [dbo].[Response] WITH CHECK ADD CONSTRAINT [FK_Response_Request]  FOREIGN KEY([RequestId])
REFERENCES [dbo].[Request] ([RequestId])
ON DELETE CASCADE
END

ELSE

 BEGIN 
 ALTER TABLE [dbo].[Response] WITH CHECK ADD CONSTRAINT [FK_Response_Request]  FOREIGN KEY([RequestId])
REFERENCES [dbo].[Request] ([RequestId])
ON DELETE NO ACTION 
END

To add "Cascade delete" to an existing foreign key in SQL Server Management Studio:

First, select your Foreign Key, and open it's "DROP and Create To.." in a new Query window.

Then, just add ON DELETE CASCADE to the ADD CONSTRAINT command:

And hit the "Execute" button to run this query.

By the way, to get a list of your Foreign Keys, and see which ones have "Cascade delete" turned on, you can run this script:

SELECT 
   OBJECT_NAME(f.parent_object_id) AS 'Table name',
   COL_NAME(fc.parent_object_id,fc.parent_column_id) AS 'Field name',
   delete_referential_action_desc AS 'On Delete'
FROM sys.foreign_keys AS f,
     sys.foreign_key_columns AS fc,
     sys.tables t 
WHERE f.OBJECT_ID = fc.constraint_object_id
AND t.OBJECT_ID = fc.referenced_object_id
ORDER BY 1

And if you ever find that you can't DROP a particular table due to a Foreign Key constraint, but you can't work out which FK is causing the problem, then you can run this command:

sp_help 'TableName'

The SQL in that article lists all FKs which reference a particular table.

Hope all this helps.

Apologies for the long finger. I was just trying to make a point.

You can do this with SQL Server Management Studio.

? Right click the table design and go to Relationships and choose the foreign key on the left-side pane and in the right-side pane, expand the menu "INSERT and UPDATE specification" and select "Cascade" as Delete Rule.