What happens to records with foreign key references when a record from an Entity is deleted using the Cascade Delete rule?

When using the Cascade Delete rule in the context of relational databases, when a record from an entity is deleted, all related records that have foreign key references to that deleted record are also deleted. This is a crucial feature of cascading operations within databases as it maintains referential integrity, ensuring that no orphaned records remain.

For instance, consider a scenario with two related entities: "Orders" and "OrderItems." If an order is deleted and a Cascade Delete rule is in place for "OrderItems," all items associated with that specific order will also be deleted automatically. This prevents the situation where you might have OrderItems linked to a non-existent Order, which could lead to data inconsistencies and integrity issues.

Cascade Delete is particularly valuable in scenarios where maintaining the coherence of the data model is essential. It minimizes manual effort as well, since the database efficiently handles the removal of related records, thereby saving the developer from having to issue separate delete commands for each related entity record.

This automatic cascading mechanism fosters a cleaner database state, ensuring that dependencies are respected whenever deletions occur. It is important to understand its implications when designing systems to prevent unintentional data loss.