Seen the suggestions.
After decades of playing with the alternatives, I don't overthink it anymore. Pretty much my lookup tables consist of an autogenerated primary key (smallint or integer), a code (name?) and a description as default.
If there are a lot of tables fitting a common data format, at times I have consolidated them into a single table with a 'lookup type' column.
Depending on application requirements, sometimes there I will provide short and long display names, and a generic description for further clarification, but usually those requirements are overkill.
Tony
Should lookup tables have a numeric FK column as well as the description column?
If so, how should I add an FK to the two lookup tables in my database?
TIA,
Rich
