To create a relationship, you must either:
Select the Relation tool
from the CDM palette.Click the Create button of the Repository - Relationships dialog box.
To modify a relationship, you must either:
Double-click a relationship of the CDM.
Click the Modify button of the Repository - Relationships dialog box.
This dialog box displays the general characteristics of the selected relationship which include, among other items, the list of legs attached to this relationship.
Data entry
Name
Name of the relationship.
This name must be a valid relationship name (as defined by IBM), unique among the names of entities, logical entities, subtype entities, and relationships in the environment.
Length: 15 characters maximum.
Mandatory entry.
Description
Description clearly identifying the relationship.
Length: 50 characters maximum.
Mandatory entry.
Sequence number
This numeric field is used to sequence the relationship, and will be used when generating the logical model.
Optional entry.
Radio buttons
Visibility
The visibility of a relationship can be either public or private. Only the owner of the relationship, or a software engineer with modification authorities, can change the visibility.
A public relationship cannot be changed into a private relationship if it is attached to more than one application area.
In creation mode, the visibility is by default set to public.
Dependency
Values available:
Yes |
The relationship is a dependency relationship. |
No |
The relationship is not a dependency relationship. |
Note: A dependency relationship is mandatorily a non-reflexive 2-dimensional relationship, defined with cardinalities "XN 11" (X values: 0 or 1).
Check boxes
Hierarchical dependency constraint
This check box lets you specify whether the entities in the relationship are hierarchically dependent upon each other.
This information item is taken into account during the logical model generation, in order to introduce property redundancies into logical entities.
Checked |
The relationship corresponds to a hierarchical dependency constraint. |
|
The IDs arising from the relationships are not duplicated to the target entity, if these IDs are already present in this entity (as IDs or properties, depending on the nature of the relationship) and if they do not belong directly to the source conceptual entity, but have been added to the source entity via a dependency relationship. |
Not checked |
The relationship does not correspond to a hierarchical dependency constraint. |
|
The IDs arising from the relationships are systematically migrated, even if they already exist in the target entity. Therefore, identical information can be duplicated. |
Lists
Attached legs
List of entities or subtype entities linked to the relationship. For each entity, the following information is displayed: its name, the cardinality and the number of its associated link.
All the characteristics of a given link can be displayed and even modified:
-
either by double-clicking the corresponding item in the list,
or by selecting it first, then by activating the Enter key.
A dialog box displaying data relative to the selected link opens then.
You can change the order of the legs graphically by
selecting the row that you want to move, then dragging the mouse cursor above or below the destination row and right-clicking.
Single-selection list.
Buttons
Display/Assign (properties)
This button opens a dialog box displaying the list of properties assigned to the relationship, as well as the list of available properties which can be assigned to the relationship.
Sequence (properties)
This button opens a dialog box displaying the list of properties assigned to the relationship, in order to resequence this list by modifying the sequence numbers of the listed properties.
This button is not active in display mode.
Display/Assign (rules)
This button opens a dialog box displaying the list of management rules assigned to the relationship, as well as the list of available management rules which can be assigned to it.
Sequence (rules)
This button opens a dialog box displaying the list of management rules assigned to the relationship, in order to resequence this list by modifying the sequence numbers of the listed management rules.
This button is not active in display mode.
Graphs
This button opens a dialog box displaying the CDM graphs to which the relationship is placed.
App. areas
This button opens a dialog box displaying the various application areas to which the relationships is attached.
Information
This button opens a dialog box displaying information on the current relationship, such as the name of the software engineer-owner, the dates and times of creation and modification.
Comments
This button opens a dialog box for entering a comment text which will be associated with the current relationship.
Enter/Create/Modify (validation)
The Enter button (in display mode) closes the dialog box.
The Create button (in creation mode) or Modify button (in modification mode) validates the dialog box.
The various fields of the dialog box are verified. If all are valid, the definition of the relationship is updated in the database before the box is closed; otherwise, an error message is displayed.
Cancel
This button closes the dialog box without validating the choices made.
All the processing operations performed in the dialog box are canceled.
If a relationship creation is canceled, the possible comment is deleted, and the links with the properties and the management rules which were assigned to this relationship are also deleted.
Keyboard shortcut: Esc.