Use the Relationship Editor to create and maintain Optim™ relationships and browse
database relationships.
You can edit an Optim relationship in any of the following
ways:
- Select or specify the names of columns from the
parent and child tables to define the relationship.
- Specify a column entry as a column name, NULL, constant,
literal, substring, or concatenated expression.
- Arrange the column entries in priority order.
Parent
Fully
qualified name of the parent table in the relationship. You cannot
modify the name of the table.
Base Creator ID
Creator
ID of the child table used to create the generic relationship. If
the relationship is explicit, the Base Creator ID is blank and grayed.
Type
Type of
relationship: Optim (explicit),
Generic, or a specific DBMS, such as Oracle.
Child
Fully
qualified name of the child table in the relationship. You cannot
modify the name of the table.
Description
Text
that describes or explains the purpose of the relationship (1 to 40
characters). You can modify this description for Optim and generic relationships.
Relationship List
The
relationship list includes the pairs of parent and child table column
entries that form the relationship. You cannot create a Relationship
using an SQL Variant column.
- Parent Expression
- List of parent table entries that
relate to corresponding entries for the child table. You may use column
names automatically inserted into the Relationship Editor, or you
can edit the entries. For details, see Specify Column Values in a Relationship.
- Data Type
- Data type for each column entry. The data types
for any pair of parent and child columns may differ, but must be compatible.
You cannot modify this value.
If the data types are
invalid, a notation is displayed:
- Required
- Only one table in a pair has a column entry. You
must provide a column entry for the other table.
- Inconsistent
- A substring uses a value that is not CHAR or an
expression references a column that is not CHAR or VARCHAR. You must
use character data in an expression that includes concatenated values
or substrings.
- Nonexistent
- The named column does not exist in either the parent
or child table. Verify the column name.
- Not Supported
- The data type or float constant is not supported.
Numeric constants are valid only when the column is DECIMAL, INTEGER,
or SMALLINT.
- Too Large
- A column entry exceeds 254 characters.
- Too Many
- The number of columns in the relationship exceeds
64.
- Child Expression
- A
list of child table entries that relate to corresponding entries for
the parent table. You may use column names automatically inserted
into the Relationship Editor, or you can edit the entries. For details,
see Specify Column Values in a Relationship.
- Data Type
- Data type for each column in the child table. The
data types for any pair of parent and child column entries may differ,
but they must be compatible. You cannot modify this value.
If the data types are invalid, a notation is displayed.
Refer to the description of Data Type for the parent table for details.
- Status
- The validity of the entries for the corresponding
parent and child table columns. If valid, the status is OK.
If one or both entries are invalid, the status is *ERROR* and a corresponding
message explains the error.
Menu Commands
In addition
to the standard File, Edit,
and Tools menu commands, you can select the
following commands from the Tools menu:
- Parent Columns
- Open the Parent Table Columns dialog. You can select
columns from the parent table to define a relationship.
- Child Columns
- Open the Child Table Columns dialog. You can select
columns from the child table to define a relationship.
- Reverse Parent /Child Tables
- Switch the names of tables from parent to child
and child to parent when you define a new relationship.
- Generic
- Convert a database relationship or explicit Optim relationship to a generic Optim relationship.
- Modify Base Tables
- Open the Respecify Base Table Creator ID dialog.
You can select a different Creator ID for the base table associated
with a generic relationship.
You must respecify the
Creator ID for the base table when the base table used to create the
generic relationship is no longer identical to other tables that use
the generic relationship.