Database design question

Hi all,
I have 2 tables, "sims" (as in mobile phone sim cards) and "phones" (as
in mobile phones). I can add any number of sim cards to the "sims"
table and any number of mobile phones to the "phones" table. Simple enough.

Rule 1: A sim card can either be in a phone, or not in a phone. It
cannot be in more than one phone.

Rule 2: A phone can either have one sim inserted, or no sim inserted.

So the relationship between the phone and sim is 0:1 to 0:1, I think..

There's several ways I could implement this, but the two most obvious to
me so far are:

### Method 1

SIMS
sim_id

PHONES
phone_id
phone_sim_id references sims(sim_id)


### Method 2

PHONES
phone_id

SIMS
sim_id
sim_phone_id references phones(phone_id)

So problem number 1 is, which way round makes more sense? My first
instinct was method 1. It seemed to make sense to say "the phone has
this sim card", though I suppose you could just as easily turn that on
its head.

Problem number 2 is, using either method above can break the rules and
create an impossible situation. For example, several phones could
reference the same sim card in method 1, and several sim cards could
reference the same phone in method 2. Would the proper way to ensure
integrity in this case be to add a "unique" modifier to the reference
field? e.g:

phone_sim_id references sims(sim_id) unique

Any advice on the above would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Mark.

I think that you need a third table for 3NF called sim_phone or
similar

Foriegn keys to the sim and phone PKs, maybe an In date and Out date
and other attributes as required. Contraint is either the two FK, or
the FKs and date.

HTH,

Tim

On Sep 30, 9:43 am, "Mark S. (UK)" wrote:
> Hi all,
> I have 2 tables, "sims" (as in mobile phone sim cards) and "phones" (as
> in mobile phones).  I can add any number of sim cards to the "sims"
> table and any number of mobile phones to the "phones" table.  Simple enough.
>
> Rule 1: A sim card can either be in a phone, or not in a phone.  It
> cannot be in more than one phone.
>
> Rule 2: A phone can either have one sim inserted, or no sim inserted.
>
> So the relationship between the phone and sim is 0:1 to 0:1, I think..
>
> There's several ways I could implement this, but the two most obvious to
> me so far are:
>
> ### Method 1
>
> SIMS
>  sim_id
>
> PHONES
>  phone_id
>  phone_sim_id references sims(sim_id)
>
> ### Method 2
>
> PHONES
>  phone_id
>
> SIMS
>  sim_id
>  sim_phone_id references phones(phone_id)
>
> So problem number 1 is, which way round makes more sense?  My first
> instinct was method 1.  It seemed to make sense to say "the phone has
> this sim card", though I suppose you could just as easily turn that on
> its head.
>
> Problem number 2 is, using either method above can break the rules and
> create an impossible situation.  For example, several phones could
> reference the same sim card in method 1, and several sim cards could
> reference the same phone in method 2.  Would the proper way to ensure
> integrity in this case be to add a "unique" modifier to the reference
> field?  e.g:
>
> phone_sim_id references sims(sim_id) unique
>
> Any advice on the above would be much appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Mark.