Creating associations

Associations are relationship object types that you can explicitly define in  Action Request System . These objects help you create and manage relationships between forms for various  AR System  functions. You can use associations to get related entries using REST API. For more information on using REST API to get associations, see Example of using the REST API to retrieve an association.

You must create associations when you want to establish a relationship between two or more forms in  Developer Studio . This relationship ensures that all the related form data is archived along with the main form when you run the archive process when you have configured associations to follow for the form which is getting archived. You can create two different types of associations in  Developer Studio .

You cannot create associations for join forms and archive forms.

For information about which associations to choose, see Configuring data archiving associations for related forms.

To create direct associations

1. In AR System Navigator, select serverName > All Objects.
2. Right-click Associations, select New Direct Association, and enter the following parameters:
   1. Select the state of the association. The options are Enabled and Disabled.
   2. Select the cardinality of the relationship between the primary and secondary form. The options are: One to One and One to Many.
   3. Select the Primary form for association.
   4. Select the Secondary form to be associated with the primary form.
      Note: Optionally, you can add qualifications using Advanced Options.
   5. Enter the description for the association.
   6. To enforce associations, select the Enforced check box. 

   7. Map the fields from the primary form to the secondary form using PKFK Field Mapping.
      If one or more fields used in key mapping or in qualification are deleted, the server considers that association as invalid and it will not be functional until those fields are created again.

      Only Character, Integer, Enum, Decimal, Real, Date, time, and timeofDay fields are allowed for PKFK mapping. For more information about PKFK mapping, see Defining data associations among forms.

   8. Select File > Save.
3. In the Save Association As dialog box, enter the name of the new association, and click OK.

To create indirect associations

1. In AR System Navigator, select serverName >All Objects.
2. Right-click Associations, select New Indirect Association, and enter the following parameters:
   1. Select the state of the association. The options are Enabled and Disabled.
   2. Select the cardinality of the relationship between primary and secondary form. The options are: One to One,One to Many, and Many to Many.
   3. Select the Primary form for association.
   4. Select the Secondary form to be associated with the primary form.
   5. Select the Association form.
      Optionally, you can add qualifications using Advanced Options.
   6. Enter the description for the association.
   7. To enforce associations, select the Enforced check box.
   8. Specify the Primary and Association form Field Mapping for comparing values from the two forms.
      If one or more fields used in key mapping or in qualification are deleted, the server considers that association as invalid and it is not functional until those fields are created again.
   9. Specify the Secondary and Association form Field Mapping for comparing values from the two forms.
      If one or more fields used in key mapping or in qualification are deleted, the server considers that association as invalid and it is not functional until those fields are created again.
   10. Select File > Save.
3. In the Save Association As dialog box, enter the name of the new association and click OK.
   

   To use a newly added custom field in an association, you must:

   1. Create the overlay of the base association and disable it.
   2. Create a new custom association that involves fields used in base association and the new custom field added in the overlay form.