How can I make a foreign key with On Delete = Set Null?

Question

SOLVED: By removing the primary key atribute from the foreign keys.

I'm building an SQL Database for an school, to keep track of teachers, students, groups and payments.

I have set all the foreign keys to cascade on update (since I believe it's going to be the best way), but I want to set them to null on delete (ie: if someones deletes a group, students can be assigned to another group with an update), but the server gives me this message in tables grupo and grupoalumno when I try to create the database:

Error: 150 "Foreign key constraint is incorrectly formed".

I have the foreign keys with not null unchecked (which means a foreign key can be a null value), and from what I understood, solution is to set the primary keys being referenced as being able to be null, which makes me question if it would be a good idea to have a PK null.

I have also considered restricting the delete, and only using updates (ie: editing a group until it's right instead of deleting it), but I think being able to actually delete a group without cascading the whole database would be wise.

I'm creating the tables in the order they need to be (ie: not creating a table that references a key that hasn't been created yet.

I'm using PHPMyAdmin and MySQL Workbench. I believe MySQL exports the database with InnoDB as the engine.

I hope I explained myself. Thanks in advance. Hoping to learn a lot!

Code:

-- MySQL Script generated by MySQL Workbench
-- 10/29/18 21:25:26
-- Model: New Model    Version: 1.0
SET @OLD_UNIQUE_CHECKS=@@UNIQUE_CHECKS, UNIQUE_CHECKS=0;
SET @OLD_FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=@@FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS, FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=0;
SET @OLD_SQL_MODE=@@SQL_MODE, SQL_MODE='TRADITIONAL,ALLOW_INVALID_DATES';

-- -----------------------------------------------------
-- Schema celex
-- -----------------------------------------------------
CREATE SCHEMA IF NOT EXISTS `celex` DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_spanish_ci ;
USE `celex` ;

-- -----------------------------------------------------
-- Table `celex`.`Grupo`
-- -----------------------------------------------------
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `celex`.`Grupo` (
  `idGrupo` INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `idioma` VARCHAR(45) NOT NULL,
  `nivel` VARCHAR(45) NOT NULL,
  `horarioInicio` TIME NULL,
  `horarioTermino` TIME NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY (`idGrupo`))
ENGINE = InnoDB;


-- -----------------------------------------------------
-- Table `celex`.`Alumno`
-- -----------------------------------------------------
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `celex`.`Alumno` (
  `idAlumno` INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `nombre` VARCHAR(45) NOT NULL,
  `primerApellido` VARCHAR(45) NOT NULL,
  `segundoApellido` VARCHAR(45) NOT NULL,
  `email` VARCHAR(45) NOT NULL,
  `telefono` VARCHAR(45) NULL,
  `edad` INT NULL,
  `procedencia` VARCHAR(45) NULL,
  `fechaIngreso` DATE NOT NULL,
  `nivelIngreso` VARCHAR(45) NOT NULL,
  `moduloIngreso` INT NOT NULL,
  `nivelColocacion` VARCHAR(45) NULL,
  `moduloColocacion` INT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY (`idAlumno`))
ENGINE = InnoDB;


-- -----------------------------------------------------
-- Table `celex`.`Periodo`
-- -----------------------------------------------------
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `celex`.`Periodo` (
  `idPeriodo` INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `nombre` VARCHAR(45) NULL,
  `inicio` DATE NOT NULL,
  `termino` DATE NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY (`idPeriodo`))
ENGINE = InnoDB;


-- -----------------------------------------------------
-- Table `celex`.`GrupoAlumno`
-- -----------------------------------------------------
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `celex`.`GrupoAlumno` (
  `idGrupoAlumno` INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `modulo` INT NOT NULL,
  `calificacionParcial` DOUBLE NULL,
  `calificacionFinal` DOUBLE NULL,
  `calificacionExtra` DOUBLE NULL,
  `Periodo_idPeriodo` INT NULL,
  `Grupo_idGrupo` INT NULL,
  `Alumno_idAlumno` INT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY (`idGrupoAlumno`, `Periodo_idPeriodo`, `Grupo_idGrupo`, `Alumno_idAlumno`),
  INDEX `fk_Grupo_has_Alumno_Alumno1_idx` (`Alumno_idAlumno` ASC),
  INDEX `fk_Grupo_has_Alumno_Grupo_idx` (`Grupo_idGrupo` ASC),
  INDEX `fk_GrupoAlumno_Periodo1_idx` (`Periodo_idPeriodo` ASC),
  CONSTRAINT `fk_Grupo_has_Alumno_Grupo`
    FOREIGN KEY (`Grupo_idGrupo`)
    REFERENCES `celex`.`Grupo` (`idGrupo`)
    ON DELETE SET NULL
    ON UPDATE CASCADE,
  CONSTRAINT `fk_Grupo_has_Alumno_Alumno1`
    FOREIGN KEY (`Alumno_idAlumno`)
    REFERENCES `celex`.`Alumno` (`idAlumno`)
    ON DELETE SET NULL
    ON UPDATE CASCADE,
  CONSTRAINT `fk_GrupoAlumno_Periodo1`
    FOREIGN KEY (`Periodo_idPeriodo`)
    REFERENCES `celex`.`Periodo` (`idPeriodo`)
    ON DELETE SET NULL
    ON UPDATE CASCADE)
ENGINE = InnoDB;


-- -----------------------------------------------------
-- Table `celex`.`PeriodoAlumno`
-- -----------------------------------------------------
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `celex`.`PeriodoAlumno` (
  `idPeriodoAlumno` INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `cuota` TINYINT(1) NULL,
  `Periodo_idPeriodo` INT NULL,
  `Alumno_idAlumno` INT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY (`idPeriodoAlumno`, `Periodo_idPeriodo`, `Alumno_idAlumno`),
  INDEX `fk_Periodo_has_Alumno_Alumno1_idx` (`Alumno_idAlumno` ASC),
  INDEX `fk_Periodo_has_Alumno_Periodo1_idx` (`Periodo_idPeriodo` ASC),
  CONSTRAINT `fk_Periodo_has_Alumno_Periodo1`
    FOREIGN KEY (`Periodo_idPeriodo`)
    REFERENCES `celex`.`Periodo` (`idPeriodo`)
    ON DELETE SET NULL
    ON UPDATE CASCADE,
  CONSTRAINT `fk_Periodo_has_Alumno_Alumno1`
    FOREIGN KEY (`Alumno_idAlumno`)
    REFERENCES `celex`.`Alumno` (`idAlumno`)
    ON DELETE SET NULL
    ON UPDATE CASCADE)
ENGINE = InnoDB;


-- -----------------------------------------------------
-- Table `celex`.`Maestro`
-- -----------------------------------------------------
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `celex`.`Maestro` (
  `idMaestro` INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `nombre` VARCHAR(45) NOT NULL,
  `primerApellido` VARCHAR(45) NOT NULL,
  `segundoApellido` VARCHAR(45) NOT NULL,
  `email` VARCHAR(45) NOT NULL,
  `telefono` VARCHAR(45) NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY (`idMaestro`))
ENGINE = InnoDB;


-- -----------------------------------------------------
-- Table `celex`.`GrupoMaestro`
-- -----------------------------------------------------
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `celex`.`GrupoMaestro` (
  `idGrupoMaestro` INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `Grupo_idGrupo` INT NULL,
  `Maestro_idMaestro` INT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY (`idGrupoMaestro`, `Grupo_idGrupo`, `Maestro_idMaestro`),
  INDEX `fk_Grupo_has_Maestro_Maestro1_idx` (`Maestro_idMaestro` ASC),
  INDEX `fk_Grupo_has_Maestro_Grupo1_idx` (`Grupo_idGrupo` ASC),
  CONSTRAINT `fk_Grupo_has_Maestro_Grupo1`
    FOREIGN KEY (`Grupo_idGrupo`)
    REFERENCES `celex`.`Grupo` (`idGrupo`)
    ON DELETE SET NULL
    ON UPDATE CASCADE,
  CONSTRAINT `fk_Grupo_has_Maestro_Maestro1`
    FOREIGN KEY (`Maestro_idMaestro`)
    REFERENCES `celex`.`Maestro` (`idMaestro`)
    ON DELETE SET NULL
    ON UPDATE CASCADE)
ENGINE = InnoDB;


SET SQL_MODE=@OLD_SQL_MODE;
SET FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=@OLD_FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS;
SET UNIQUE_CHECKS=@OLD_UNIQUE_CHECKS;

edit: Appending query to create database.

Answer 1

When setting the Foreign Key constraint, in addition to cascade on update you can define to set null on delete like this:

FOREIGN KEY (Grupo_idGrupo) REFERENCES Grupo (idGrupo) 
ON DELETE SET NULL ON UPDATE CASCADE