MySQL error cannot add foreign key constraint

Question

what is wrong?

mysql> create table price(
    -> p_code char(1) not null,
    -> p_description varchar(20),
    -> p_rentfee decimal(2,2) not nul         


        

Answer 1

price.p_code is not the primary key for price. Try:

create table price(
p_code char(1) not null PRIMARY KEY,
p_description varchar(20),
p_rentfee decimal(2,2) not null,
p_dylatefee decimal(2,2));

In general, foreign keys must reference a primary/unique key, a whole primary/unique key, and nothing but a primary/unique key.

In some RDBMS, for example SQL Server, you can reference a column with a unique index (not key) (see can we have a foreign key which is not a primary key in any other table?), but this is non-standard behavior.