SQLite Multi-column Insert/Replace with Multiple Join - sqlite

Question

Sorry for the poor title. I have a query (below) that executes properly and creates an insertion just as I would desire. However, I want to make it smarter by only inserting when the exact combination of three columns. Essentially, the three column tuple is a primary key, but I'm working with the limitation of sqlite's single primary key.
Basic Context
I have 4 tables: Permissions, Roles, Users, Actions
Permissions connects Roles and Users to Actions. The Actions table has a list of available tasks that a User or a user with a Role can perform. So for example, if user_id = 1 can perform a list_folder action (action_id = 1), then the permissions table would have an entry: (id=1, action_id=1, user_id=1, role_id=NULL). Likewise, suppose an owner_role (role_id=1) might have permissions to perform a list_folder action (action_id=1), then the permissions entry might be: (id=2, action_id=1, user_id=NULL, role_id=1).
When I do an insert, I want to make sure that I do not already have that exact combination (e.g. action_id=1, user_id=NULL, role_id=1). And I'm not entirely sure how to write the sql so that I have this setup properly.
Here's my basic insert statement. I need to come up with an insert and a replace statement:
INSERT INTO permissions (
action_id
,role_id
)
SELECT DISTINCT
a.id as "action_id"
,r.id as "role_id"
FROM tmp_permissions tmp
LEFT OUTER JOIN actions a
ON tmp.action_name = a.name
LEFT OUTER JOIN roles r
ON tmp.roles_name = r.name
LEFT OUTER JOIN permissions p
ON p.role_id
Here are some creation sql statements for the tables:
CREATE TABLE permissions (
id INTEGER NOT NULL,
enabled INTEGER,
action_id INTEGER,
user_id INTEGER,
role_id INTEGER,
PRIMARY KEY (id),
FOREIGN KEY(user_id) REFERENCES users (id),
FOREIGN KEY(action_id) REFERENCES actions (id),
FOREIGN KEY(role_id) REFERENCES roles (id)
);
CREATE TABLE actions (
id INTEGER NOT NULL,
enabled INTEGER,
name VARCHAR(50),
permission_ids INTEGER,
PRIMARY KEY (id),
FOREIGN KEY(permission_ids) REFERENCES permissions (id)
);
CREATE TABLE roles (
id INTEGER NOT NULL,
enabled INTEGER,
name VARCHAR(50),
permission_ids INTEGER,
PRIMARY KEY (id),
FOREIGN KEY(permission_ids) REFERENCES permissions (id)
);
CREATE TABLE users (
id INTEGER NOT NULL,
enabled INTEGER,
name VARCHAR(50),
permission_ids INTEGER,
PRIMARY KEY (id),
FOREIGN KEY(permission_ids) REFERENCES permissions (id)
);
Here's a temp table I'm using to store the data in the table while I work with it:
CREATE TABLE tmp_permissions(
roles_name VARCHAR(50),
action_name VARCHAR(50)
);
Here's some data:
#role|action
admin|setup
admin|debug
admin|login
admin|view_user
manager|view_employee
manager|enroll_employee
manager|login
employee|schedule
employee|login
customer|guest_login
customer|change_credentials
guest|guest_login
Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Add a UNIQUE constraint to the table:
CREATE TABLE permissions(
... ,
UNIQUE (action_id, user_id, role_id)
)
You can then use any of the conflict resolution algorithms to handle duplicates.