---
title: Handle missing Foreign Key in a Relationship
description: Handle missing Foreign Key in a Relationship
---

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# Handle missing Foreign Key in a Relationship

In [Edit a Relationship](https://knowledge.bigenius-x.com/edit-a-relationship?hsLang=en), we've seen that we can configure the **BK Behavior** for a **Relationship:**

![](https://knowledge.bigenius-x.com/hs-fs/hubfs/image-png-May-04-2023-12-17-54-0734-PM.png?width=597&height=307&name=image-png-May-04-2023-12-17-54-0734-PM.png)

When a **Relationship** is defined between a source **Model Object** *A* and a target **Model Object** *B*, the **Foreign Key** value in **Model Object** *B* may not exist as a **Business Key** value in Model Object *A*.

We are talking about missing **Foreign Keys** in a **Relationship**.

You can configure four different behaviors to adopt during the load:

1. None
2. Set to Unknown
3. Create an embryo
4. Log an error and refuse

### None

If we set the **BK Behavior** to *None*, the **Foreign Key** of the Model Object B will contain the singleton value for Unknown (which can differ according to the Data Type of the Foreign Key).

### Set to Unknown

If we set the **BK Behavior** to *setToUnknown*, the **Foreign Key** of the Model Object B will contain the singleton value for Unknown (which can differ according to the Data Type of the Foreign Key).

### Create an embryo

If we set the **BK Behavior** to *createEmbryo*, the missing value in Model Object A will be artificially created.

The following graph explains how the embryo behavior works (in a Dimensional modeling example):

![blobid1](https://knowledge.bigenius-x.com/hs-fs/hubfs/blobid1.png?width=688&height=339&name=blobid1.png)

- In the Sales Fact table is referenced the Product MTB 3
- The MTB 3 Product doesn't exist in the product Entity
- The embryo behavior creates the MTB 3 product in the Product Entity, and the relationship between the Sales Fact and the Product Entity can be done.

### Log an error and refuse

If we set the **BK Behavior** to *logErrorAndRefuse*, if the value of the **Foreign Key** on **Model Object** *B* doesn't exist in **Model Object** *A*, the load will not load this row and log an error.

### Demonstration video

 

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