Creating associations using Association Service Task
In a process, you can define a relationship between two records by associating them. You associate two records 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.
To create or remove associations between record instances in a process, in the Process Designer, you must use the Association Service Task elements as described in the following table:
Element Name | Symbol | Description |
|---|---|---|
Associate Child Record |
| Associates a record instance with another record instance that is dependent on the original record instance. A record instance is associated to the child record object.
|
Associate Records |
| Associates a record instance with another record instance that is dependent on the original record instance. A record instance is associated to the record object.
|
Disassociate Records |
| Removes the association between two specific record instances. Example: The Employee record instance has an association with the Phone Number record instances - office and personal. You want to disassociate the Employee record instance with the personal Phone Number record instance. |
Disassociate All Records |
| Removes all associations for a specific record instance. Example: The Author record instance has an association with more than one Knowledge Article record instance. You want to disassociate the Author record instance with all the Knowledge Article record instances so that you can associate the Knowledge Articles with another Author. |
To associate or disassociate records
- Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio and navigate to the Workspace tab.
- Select the application in which your process exists.
- In the application, click the Processes tab.
- Click the process name where you want to associate or disassociate records.
The system opens Process designer and displays the process diagram on the canvas. Drag the Association Service Task element (Associate Child Records, Associate Records, Disassociate Records, or Disassociate All Records) to the canvas, and in the Properties pane, enter the values for the properties as described in the following table:
Element Name
Field
Action
Associate Records and Associate Child Records
Association Definition Name
Enter a name for the association definition.
1st Record ID
Enter the ID of the first record instance that you want to associate.
2nd Record ID
Enter the ID of the second record instance that you want to associate.
Use Default Roles
Select the toggle key if you want to use the role names defined while creating an association definition.
Note: If you select the Use Default Roles toggle key, you cannot define the role by using the 1st Record Role and 2nd Record Role fields.
1st Record Role
Click Edit and define the role of the first record by using a process variable, expression, or a literal.
2nd Record Role
Click Edit and define the role of the second record by using a process variable, expression, or a literal.
Disassociate All Records
Association Definition Name
Enter a name for the association definition.
Node Side
Specify whether you want to disassociate the record instance on the left side of the association or the right side of the association. The disassociation works bidirectionally between the two nodes.
The following image displays how the nodes in a record association relate to the Node Side field:
Record ID
Enter the ID of the record instance in the node side selected earlier.
Role Name
Enter a role name for disassociation. This action disassociates the records that match with the role name.
For more information about the common Service Task properties such as Run as or Multi instance loop, see Service Task properties.
- Click Save.
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