"Linking" tables

[Essie]

Hi.

I`m creating a web site for a project. A requirement of the project is that I use 3 "linked" tables. As I understand this from Access (excuse me for swearing), this means I have a primary key set in one table, and use this as a foreign key in the other 2 (normalisation - the info is only ever held and entered once).

So, assuming I am right re the above, how do I link tables in MySQL? (I know this is a PHP forum, but I have been told you have all been very helpful in the past!)

To give an example of what I mean, the site is for a local kids football club (they have no money to do their own, so I thought this would be good for them and me). So, one table will be squad name (primary key), manager name, login in details. The second table will be squad name (linked - secondary key), results etc.

I hope this is clear - any help very gratefully appreciated.

Thanks

Essie

[Essie]

OR....

Am I getting a bit confused with terminology, and do I need to use an inner or outer join to form this "link"? I thought these were just for data retrieval - how would I then ensure correct data entry without "forcing" it in with hidden fields relying on "if" satements????

Cheers,

Essie

[tekky]

In MySql the linking would be done in the way you select your data.... as far as validating the data... thats up to your PHP script that receives/inserts the data from the user into the database

as an example....

kids (table name)

id (int) //unique id for each kid
name (varchar 10) //kids name
team_id (int) //correlates to unique ID of the team the kid is on

teams (table name)

id (int) //unique identifier for each team
name (varchar 20) //team name
league (int) //correlates to unique ID of the leage the team plays in

leagues (table name)

id (int) //unique identifier for each league
name (varchar 20) //league name

so if I wanted to see all the players in a certain league... I would call the query something like this

SELECT name.kids AS kids_name FROM kids WHERE kids.team_id = teams.id and teams.id = league.id

I think that would work... I'm kinda out of it tonight so it could be way wrong...