Information Catalog Manager Administration Guide

Creating a linked relationship between objects

To show users that data represented by one object is related to data that is represented by another object, you create a linked relationship by associating objects. You can link objects by using the Information Catalog Manager windows or tag language.

Linking objects by using the Information Catalog Manager windows

To create a linked relationship, start from one of the following windows:

Search Results
Collection
Found In
Subjects
Tree View
Linked With
  1. Right-click the object you want to associate with other objects in a linked relationship. The object's pop-up menu opens.
  2. Click Update links.

    The Update Links window opens.

  3. Link other objects to the selected object:
    1. Click Search.

      The Define Search - Links window opens. Use this window to search for objects you want to include in the linked relationship with the selected object. Objects that fit your search criteria are returned to the Update Links window in the Available objects list.

    2. From the Available objects list, click one or more objects.
    3. Click > to add selected objects to the Linked objects list.
  4. To remove objects from the linked relationship:
    1. From the Linked objects list, click one or more objects.
    2. Click < to remove selected objects from the Linked objects list.
  5. When you finish adding and removing objects, click Update. All linked relationships are updated.

    To close the window without changing any objects, click Cancel.

Linking objects by using tag language

To link associated objects with tag language, specify a link relationship between two objects that are categorized as Grouping or Elemental.

  1. To create a link between two objects, enter the following line in your tag language file: 
    :ACTION.RELATION(ADD)
  2. To remove a link between two objects, enter the following line in your tag language file: 
    :ACTION.RELATION(DELETE)
  3. Specify the link relationship by typing the following lines, filling in the type of the two objects you are linking for SOURCETYPE and TARGETYPE: 
    :RELTYPE.TYPE(LINK) SOURCETYPE(short_name_of_object_type)
     TARGETYPE(short_name_of_object_type)
  4. Type the following lines, filling in the UUI properties and property values of an object you are linking: 
    :INSTANCE.SOURCEKEY(UUI_short_name(value_for_property)
     UUI_short_name(value_for_property)
     UUI_short_name(value_for_property))
  5. Type the following lines, filling in the UUI properties and property values of the other object you are linking: 
         TARGETKEY(UUI_short_name(value_for_property)
     UUI_short_name(value_for_property)
     UUI_short_name(value_for_property))

After each keyword, type an appropriate value within the parentheses:

Keyword
Value

SOURCETYPE
The short name of the source object type.

TARGETYPE
The short name of the target object type.

UUI_short_name
The short name of a UUI property of the object type.

Completely enclose in parentheses all the properties and values after the SOURCEKEY and TARGETKEY keywords.

Figure 8 shows an example of tag language to create a linked relationship between two Grouping objects. The example assumes that you already created the source and target objects.

Figure 8. Linking two objects with tag language

ACTION.RELATION(ADD)
RELTYPE.TYPE(LINK) SOURCETYPE(TABLES) TARGETYPE(TABLES)
INSTANCE.SOURCEKEY(DBNAME(DGWDATA) OWNER(USERID) 
     TABLE(COMPONENTS))
     TARGETKEY(DBNAME(DGWDATA) OWNER(USERID) TABLE(CUSTSHIP))

In this example, two relational tables are linked.

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