Either OR non-null constraints in MySQL

Question

What\'s the best way to create a non-NULL constraint in MySQL such that fieldA and fieldB can\'t both be NULL. I don\'t care if either one is NULL by itself, just as long as the

Answer 1

MySQL 5.5 introduced SIGNAL, so we don't need the extra column in Bill Karwin's answer any more. Bill pointed out you also need a trigger for update so I've included that too.

CREATE TABLE foo (
  FieldA INT,
  FieldB INT
);

DELIMITER //
CREATE TRIGGER InsertFieldABNotNull BEFORE INSERT ON foo
FOR EACH ROW BEGIN
  IF (NEW.FieldA IS NULL AND NEW.FieldB IS NULL) THEN
    SIGNAL SQLSTATE '45000'
    SET MESSAGE_TEXT = '\'FieldA\' and \'FieldB\' cannot both be null';
  END IF;
END//
CREATE TRIGGER UpdateFieldABNotNull BEFORE UPDATE ON foo
FOR EACH ROW BEGIN
  IF (NEW.FieldA IS NULL AND NEW.FieldB IS NULL) THEN
    SIGNAL SQLSTATE '45000'
    SET MESSAGE_TEXT = '\'FieldA\' and \'FieldB\' cannot both be null';
  END IF;
END//
DELIMITER ;

INSERT INTO foo (FieldA, FieldB) VALUES (NULL, 10); -- OK
INSERT INTO foo (FieldA, FieldB) VALUES (10, NULL); -- OK
INSERT INTO foo (FieldA, FieldB) VALUES (NULL, NULL); -- gives error
UPDATE foo SET FieldA = NULL; -- gives error