A relationship in the WebSphere business integration system is a
two-part entity:
- A relationship definition, stored in the repository, to define
the participants
- Code within a map to implement the relationship by accessing
the relationship tables
To define a relationship in the WebSphere business integration
system, you must perform the following basic steps:
- Determine the type of relationship you need.
- Within Relationship Designer Express, define a relationship
definition and define the composite participants.
- Within Map Designer Express, customize the transformation rule,
if necessary, to maintain the relationship.
- Recompile the affected maps.
- Deploy the relationships and maps to InterChange Server Express
with the Create Schema option.
- Ensure that the relationship database(s) exists and is defined
correctly within the relationship definition.
- Populate relationship tables for any lookup relationships.
Optionally, populate other relationship tables with test data for
the testing phase.
- For each map, start all relationships in the map.
- Test the relationship with the Test Connector. Be sure to set
the appropriate calling context as part of each of the tests.
Figure 90 provides
a visual overview of the relationship development process and
provides a quick reference to chapters where you can find
information on specific topics. Note that if a team of people is
available for map development, the major tasks of developing a map
can be done in parallel by different members of the development
team.
Figure 90. Overview of the
relationship development task

