Repository Relationship Objects

Meta Data Services Programming

Meta Data Services Programming

Repository Relationship Objects

A relationship is an association between two objects. Relationships bind objects together and give structure to a repository and an information model.

In a repository and in all subsequent information models, objects are connected to each other through a network of relationships. For example, in a model that depicts a database application, the association between a schema and its table is a relationship. Furthermore, the association between a table and its columns, and a column and its data type, are also relationships. In a repository, the connection between one information model and another is also a relationship.

All relationships are accessed by way of a collection. You can only access a relationship through its collections. Understanding how collections and relationships correspond is an important prerequisite to programming an information model. For more information about collections, see Repository Collections.

The following topics provide more detail about the roles that a relationship assumes.

Topic Description
Relationship Structure: Origin and Destination Explains how origin and destination objects provide the structure of a relationship.
Relationship Navigation: Source and Target Explains how source and target objects provide the navigation of a relationship.

You can manipulate repository relationship objects from Automation or COM programs using the Relationship object, the Relationship class, or the IRelationship and IRelationshipCol interfaces.

See Also

Example: Associating Data with RTIM

IRelationship Interface

IRelationshipCol Interface

Relationship Class

Relationship Object

Repository Object Architecture