Relationship Manager allows you to view and perform operations on relationship run time data, including participants and their data. For background information about relationships, see the Map Development Guide.
You create relationship definitions with Relationship Designer. At run time, instances of the relationships are populated with the data that associates information from different applications. This relationship instance data is created when the maps that use the relationships execute. The data is stored in the relationship tables specified in the relationship definition. Relationship Manager provides a graphical interface to interact with the relationship tables regardless of the database vendor.
For each relationship instance, Relationship Manager opens a hierarchical listing of its participant definitions and participant instances, which are a set of key and non-key attributes. The relationship tree also provides detailed information about each of the participants in the relationship instance such as the type of entity, its value, and the date it was last modified. A relationship instance ID is automatically generated when the relationship instance is saved in the relationship table. Relationship Manager opens this instance ID at the top level of the relationship tree.
Figure 31 shows a sample of a relationship tree in Relationship Manager for an identity relationship.
Figure 31. Relationship Manager, relationship tree
You can use Relationship Manager to work on entities at all levels: the relationship instance, participant instance, and attribute levels. For example, you can use Relationship Manager to:
This section covers the following topics:
Steps for starting Relationship Manager
Connecting to and disconnecting from a server
Connecting to and disconnecting from a server
Working with relationships in Relationship Manager
Working with relationship data
Perform one of the following steps to start Relationship Manager:
Relationship Manager starts. At this point it is disconnected from the server; you must connect to an InterChange Server instance as described in Steps for connecting to Relationship Manager from InterChange Server to proceed further.
Figure 32 shows Relationship Manager in a disconnected state.
Figure 32. Relationship Manager
You must connect Relationship Manager to InterChange Server to work with relationship instances and data. Follow the instructions in the following sections to connect Relationship Manager to a server and disconnect Relationship Manager from it:
Perform the following steps to connect Relationship Manager to InterChange Server:
If you do not want to open a relationship at this time you can open it after connecting to the server. For more information, see Steps for opening a relationship.
If you connect to InterChange Server in Relationship Manager and specify a relationship to open as described in step 6, then Relationship Manager opens the Retrieve Relationship Instances window, described in Steps for retrieving relationship instances.
Perform the following steps to disconnect Relationship Manager from InterChange Server:
Once you have started Relationship Manager and connected it to an InterChange Server, you can use Relationship Manager to work with relationship data as described in the following sections:
Steps for opening a relationship
Steps for retrieving relationship instances
Steps for creating relationship instances
Steps for deleting relationship instances
Deactivating and activating participants
Steps for copying participants
Steps for loading and unloading business object files
Perform the following steps to open a relationship definition in Relationship Manager after it is already connected to the server:
Figure 34 shows the "Open Relationship" window.
When you open a relationship, Relationship Manager opens the Retrieve Relationship Instances window, described in Steps for retrieving relationship instances.
Perform the following step to retrieve relationship instances:
Figure 35. Retrieving relationship instances
The Retrieve Relationship Instances window is also displayed when you specify a relationship to open when connecting to InterChange Server.
You can perform the following operations with the Retrieve Relationship Instances window:
Depending on the number of participants in the relationship definition and the number of participant instances in each relationship instance, these retrieval queries may take some time.
Steps for retrieving all instances
Perform the following steps to retrieve the first 500 instances for a relationship:
Relationship Manager displays the first 500 instances for the relationship.
Steps for retrieving by relationship ID
Perform the following steps to retrieve a range of up to 500 instances by relationship ID:
Relationship Manager displays up to 500 instances in a range of the ids you specify.
Steps for retrieving by participant data
Perform the following steps to retrieve a relationship instance based on values for key or non-key attributes of selected participants:
For identity relationships, the drop-down menu lists the participant names followed by the business object definition with which the participant is associated.
For lookup relationships, the drop-down menu lists the participant names followed by the word "Data".
Table 18. Supported values for retrieving relationship instances by participant data
Value | Description |
---|---|
Participant data | The data of the selected participant.
For example, if the relationship is an identity relationship you would specify the ID of the participant instance that you know to find the relationship instance in which it exists. If the relationship is a lookup relationship you would specify the non-key data value of the participant instance. |
% |
Any string of characters. This option is case-sensitive; numbers are included in the character set. For example, if %A were specified for a participant that stores
abbreviated forms of the names of the United States, the values CA,
GA, IA, LA, MA, PA,
VA, and WA would be returned.
|
_ |
Any single character. As an example, _00 would retrieve 100,
200, a00, b00, and so forth.
|
Relationship Manager displays the first 500 relationship instances that match the specified value.
Steps for returning a count of the relationship instances
Perform the following steps to return the number of relationship instances that satisfy a retrieval criteria:
Relationship Manager displays the first 500 instances for the relationship.
Perform the following steps to create a new instance for a relationship:
Relationship Manager displays the new relationship instance.
Highlighted at the top of the hierarchal relationship tree, on the entry line with the relationship icon is the placeholder for the relationship instance ID, which displays three question marks (???). Once you save the relationship instance or any of its participants, InterChange Server automatically generates the new relationship instance ID and Relationship Manager replaces the question marks with this instance ID.
The relationship tree displays participant definitions, participant instances, and participant key and non-key attributes beneath the relationship instance in descending order.
At this point, you can perform any of the tasks in the following
table.
Table 19. Tasks for Participant Data
Task | Action |
---|---|
Save the participant instance. | To save the new participant instance, right-click the participant
instance and choose Save Participant from the context menu.
Relationship Manager saves in the appropriate relationship table the data for
this participant. The Modified column for the participant
instances displays the date the participant was saved, which is the create
date, in this case.
|
Add more participant instances. | Repeat repeat step 3 in the previous list.
|
Delete a participant. | If necessary, you can delete a saved participant instance by right-clicking on the participant instance and choosing Delete Participant from the context menu. Relationship Manager removes the participant instance from the relationship table. If you do not want to remove the participant instance from the database, use the Deactivate Participant option (see "Deactivating and activating participants"). A deactivated participant retains its instance ID and its values. |
Save the relationship instance. | Save the relationship instance by performing one of the following
tasks:
|
Save all relationship instances. | Select File > Save All from the menu bar. InterChange Server generates the relationship instance IDs for any relationship instances that do not have one. Relationship Manager replaces any "???" placeholders with the new IDs. Relationship Manager updates the modified date on all saved participant instances to this date. |
Perform the following steps to delete a relationship instance from the relationship tables:
The relationship instance and its data are deleted from the relationship tables for the current relationship.
A participant instance can be deactivated, or made inactive. Deactivating a participant instance removes it from the relationship instance and prevents it from displaying in the Relationship Manager window, but its record remains in the relationship table so it can be re-activated in the future.
Steps for deactivating a participant
Perform the following steps to deactivate a participant instance:
The participant is removed from the Relationship Manager display but not from the relationship tables.
Steps for activating a participant
Perform the following steps to activate a participant instance:
The Deactivated Participants window displays as shown in Figure 36.
The activated participant instance displays in its relationship instance in the Relationship Manager window.
You can create a new participant instance by copying an existing participant instance. Perform the following steps to copy a participant instance:
You can load a business object file of the same type into a participant. Perform the following steps to load a business object data file into a participant:
The Participant window displays the business object associated with that participant instance, as shown in Figure 37.
Figure 37. Loading participants with business objects
An important feature of Relationship Manager is its ability to access and manipulate relationship run time data contained in the relationship tables. The following topics describe how to use Relationship Manager to manipulate and access run time data:
Steps for searching for participants
Steps for filtering the displayed participants
Steps for cleaning up participants
Steps for printing relationship data
You can search for participant instances based on different criteria. Depending on how specific your search criteria is, your searches can locate a unique participant instance or a group of participant instances. You can find participant instances either by business object or by data.
Steps for finding instances by business object
This option searches for instances whose data type is an attribute in a business object.
Perfom the following steps to search for instances by business object:
The Find Instances by Business Object window appears (see Figure 38).
Relationship Manager displays any matching instances in a dialog box.
Steps for finding instances by data
This option searches for instances whose type is Data.
Perfom the following steps to search for instances by data:
Relationship Manager displays the "Find Instances by Data" window, as shown in Figure 39.
Relationship Manager displays any matching instances in a dialog box.
You can filter the participants to only display those created or modified between certain dates. Perform the following steps to filter the displayed participants:
Relationship Manager displays the "Filter" dialog box, as shown in Figure 40.
Use the following techniques to enter the date value:
Relationship Manager displays the history of activity for the filtered interval in the "Filter Results" dialog box. The filtered display includes inactive participants if the Include inactive participants as well option box is checked. Figure 41 shows the "Filter Results" dialog box.
Perform the following steps to clean up participants due to inconsistent or corrupt data in the source application or generic object:
Relationship Manager displays the "Clean up Participants" dialog box, as shown in Figure 42.
Use the following techniques to enter the date value:
All participant adds, deactivations, and activations since that point in time are erased from the database. A participant that has been deleted or whose value has been modified cannot be cleaned up.
Relationship Manager allows you to print information about a relationship's run time data. It creates a tree representation of the run time data, much like the data appears in the tool's main window. The printing command of Relationship Manager sends the current contents of the relationship tree in the main window to the printer.
Perform the following steps to print relationship run time data: