% Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
% Please edit documentation in R/foreign-keys.R
\name{dm_enum_fk_candidates}
\alias{dm_enum_fk_candidates}
\alias{enum_fk_candidates}
\title{Foreign key candidates}
\usage{
dm_enum_fk_candidates(dm, table, ref_table, ...)

enum_fk_candidates(dm_zoomed, ref_table, ...)
}
\arguments{
\item{dm}{A \code{dm} object.}

\item{table}{The table whose columns should be tested for suitability as foreign keys.}

\item{ref_table}{A table with a primary key.}

\item{...}{These dots are for future extensions and must be empty.}

\item{dm_zoomed}{A \code{dm} with a zoomed table.}
}
\value{
A tibble with the following columns:
\describe{
\item{\code{columns}}{columns of \code{table},}
\item{\code{candidate}}{boolean: are these columns a candidate for a foreign key,}
\item{\code{why}}{if not a candidate for a foreign key, explanation for for this.}
}
}
\description{
\ifelse{html}{\href{https://lifecycle.r-lib.org/articles/stages.html#experimental}{\figure{lifecycle-experimental.svg}{options: alt='[Experimental]'}}}{\strong{[Experimental]}}

Determine which columns would be good candidates to be used as foreign keys of a table,
to reference the primary key column of another table of the \code{\link{dm}} object.
}
\details{
\code{dm_enum_fk_candidates()} first checks if \code{ref_table} has a primary key set,
if not, an error is thrown.

If \code{ref_table} does have a primary key, then a join operation will be tried using
that key as the \code{by} argument of join() to match it to each column of \code{table}.
Attempting to join incompatible columns triggers an error.

The outcome of the join operation determines the value of the \code{why} column in the result:
\itemize{
\item an empty value for a column of \code{table} that is a suitable foreign key candidate
\item the count and percentage of missing matches for a column that is not suitable
\item the error message triggered for unsuitable candidates that may include the types of mismatched columns
}

\code{enum_fk_candidates()} works like \code{dm_enum_fk_candidates()} with the zoomed table as \code{table}.
}
\section{Life cycle}{

These functions are marked "experimental" because we are not yet sure about
the interface, in particular if we need both \code{dm_enum...()} and \code{enum...()}
variants.
Changing the interface later seems harmless because these functions are
most likely used interactively.
}

\examples{
\dontshow{if (rlang::is_installed("nycflights13")) withAutoprint(\{ # examplesIf}
dm_nycflights13() \%>\%
  dm_enum_fk_candidates(flights, airports)

dm_nycflights13() \%>\%
  dm_zoom_to(flights) \%>\%
  enum_fk_candidates(airports)
\dontshow{\}) # examplesIf}
}
\seealso{
Other foreign key functions: 
\code{\link{dm_add_fk}()},
\code{\link{dm_get_all_fks}()},
\code{\link{dm_rm_fk}()}
}
\concept{foreign key functions}
