Creating record associations

In BMC Helix Innovation Studio, you can create an association between two record definitions to define a relationship between them. You associate two record definitions so that you can use the data from one record for another record.

For example, you associate the Company record with the Location record. This association enables you to define the different locations for the same company.

While creating a record association, you specify the following parameters for the association:

Cardinality—Type of relation between the records within the association, such as, one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many.
Constraint—Limitation for an association, such as, automatic deletion of the associated records. If record1 is associated to record2, and you delete record 2, then record1 is also deleted automatically.

Notes

Application business analysts can customize the objects developed in their own applications and that are marked customizable by the developers, but cannot customize the objects developed in com.bmc.arsys. For example, objects in core BMC applications like Foundation, Approval, and Assignment cannot be customized.
Record associations are not supported for external record definitions.

Types of associations

The following table describes the different types of associations:

Type of association	Description
Direct association	Defines a direct relationship between the two records in the association, such as, one-to-one and one-to-many relationships. Multiple fields of one record and multiple fields of other records can be a part of the association. Entries in two forms contains direct references to each other. For example, see the following image:
Indirect association	Defines an indirect relationship between the two records in the association; the records can be related to each other using a third record, such as many-to-many relationship. Entries in two related forms do not have reference to each other. For example, see the following image:
Self association	Defines a relationship in which a self record definition is associated to itself through a direct relationship. For example, employee Manager association. A manager belongs to the manager role and a manager also belongs to an employee role. The following image illustrates a self association:

To create a record association

The following video helps you to create a record association. The video shows an older version of BMC Helix Platform. The previous product name was BMC Helix Innovation Suite. Although there might be minor changes in the UI, the overall functionality remains the same:

https://youtu.be/9bOObkK2Kx8

Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio and navigate to the Workspace tab.
Select the application or the library for which you want to create an association.
Select Associations > New.
The Create Association window is displayed as shown in the following image:

Complete the fields as described in the following table:

Field	Action
Association Name	Type a unique name that identifies the association. The association name must start with an alphanumeric character. Only alphanumeric characters, hyphens, underscore, and spaces are allowed in the association name.
(Optional) Description	Provide a short description of the association.
First Record	Select the source entity or the starting point of your association. Note: The Application/Library scoped definitions are marked with an asterisk ( * ). Ensure that you follow the guidelines listed in Object definition scope before you select these definitions.
(Optional) Role of First Record	Provide a description for the first record, which explains the record in the context of the association. To associate two records from a process, if you use the Associate Records element and select the Use Default Roles toggle key, then, the value you specify in Role of First Record is used. For more information about associating records from a process, see Creating record associations in processes.
Cardinality	Select any one of the following relationship among the record definitions: If you want to create a direct record association, select the cardinality as Has One or Has Many. If you want to create an indirect record association, select the cardinality as Many To Many.
Second Record	Select the target entity or the ending point of your association. Note: The Application/Library scoped definitions are marked with an asterisk ( * ). Ensure that you follow the guidelines listed in Object definition scope before you select these definitions.
(Optional) Role of Second Record	Provide a description for the second record, which explains the record in the context of the association. To associate two records from a process, if you use the Associate Records element and select the Use Default Roles toggle key, then, the value you specify in Role of First Record is used. For more information about associating records from a process, see Creating record associations in processes.
Add Constraints	To create a direct association, select any of the following constraints: If record is deleted, automatically delete all associated records: Deletes all the associated records if the first record is deleted. This constraint adds a Cascade Delete flag to the record association. See the following image: Require a record to be associated in order to create a new record: Creates the second record only when the first record is created. This constraint is available only when you specify to delete all the associated records if the first record is deleted. Note: A direct association is automatically created when you select any of the constraints.
Scope/Customization Options	Option to define the scope for association definition. This option further contains the following options: Application/Library (default)—To limit the use of the definition within the same Digital Service application or library. Public—To enable the definition to be used by all the applications or library and allow customizations for this definition.
Enable Association	Select this item to validate and implement the association in the two records.

Click Save.

To inherit an existing record association to a new record association

You can create a record association by extending or inheriting the details from an existing record association while you are inheriting an existing record definition.

Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio and navigate to the Workspace tab.
Select the application or library to which you want to inherit a record definition.
Select Records > New > Regular Record.
The record with default fields is displayed.
In the Details section, click .
From Record Inheritance section, click Inherit from a Record Definition.

From the Record to Inherit drop-down list, select the record definition from which you want to inherit the preferences.

The following table provides information about the properties:

Property	Description
Core Fields	Inherits all the core fields from the super record definition to the subrecord definitions. If you select the Shared data with inheritors check box, the core fields of the super record definition are inherited by default. Note: You cannot remove any core fields from being inherited to the new record definition.
Rules	Inherits all the rules that are associated with the super record definition.
Field Permissions	Inherits all the permissions that are associated with the fields of the super record definition.
Associations	Inherits all the associations that are applied to the super record definition.

(Optional) Specify the inheritance properties for the record definition.