Viewing foreign key properties

The foreign key is a column or combination of columns whose values match the primary key. A foreign key does not have to be unique. It is often in a many-to-one relationship to a primary key. Foreign key values should be copies of the primary key values. That means no value in the foreign key should exist unless the same value exists in the primary key. A foreign key may be null; if any part of a composite foreign key is null, the entire foreign key must be null. Tables with foreign keys are often called detail tables or dependent tables to the master table.

You can use sp_foreignkey to mark foreign keys in your database. This flags them for use with sp_helpjoins and other procedures that reference the syskeys table.

To display the properties of a foreign key:

From the table, open the Foreign Keys folder.
Select the foreign key.
Select File | Properties. The Foreign Key property sheet opens.

The Foreign Key Properties General tab is a static tab that allows you to view:

Table – the table on which the foreign key is created.
Referenced Table – the table to which the foreign key refers.
Creator – is the creator of table.
Creation date – is the creation date of foreign key.