I have a 2 database tables defined as in erd.jpg. In the mapper (see jpg's) each table has only one field flagged with the key icon. I am confused.

I think your best bet is to add an ID column to your table as an integer or guid type. Set the primary key on it, and let it be a the index. Then, define a UNIQUE constraint on your combination of 3 columns. The INSERTs, UPDATEs and DELETEs will be faster with the single part primary key and you will still have the UNIQUE constraint on the current 3-part primary key setup.

I can do that. Most of my tables use a string guid as the key. There are only a few that have multi-part keys. Converting them will not be too big a deal.



Thanks.

Not a problem

When you configure your tables with a guid primary key, are you using a Char(32) data type and putting the guid in that, or are you using the UNIQUEIDENTIFIER data type and storing the guids there? Because if you're using the Char(32) type, you might consider changing them to the UNIQUEIDENTIFIER because it's half the size and optimized for guids. Also your field properties on the business objects would return a System.Guid rather than a string. Just a thought.