Hi there,
Yes you are correct - when a relationship is defined between two entities, the system will automatically create all the required components to enable the association of records as well as the presentation of those associations against the concerned record
types.
To elaborate, when a new relationship is created between two entities of type 1:N, the system will create an attribute of type 'lookup' on the child entity; this will enable the association of a parent record each time a new record of this type is created.
A user with appropriate permissions is able to then add this lookup attribute to the form in order to enable users to physically create an association. A decision can also be made to determine whether the lookup attribute is a required for saving any record
of this type.
In addition to the lookup on the child entity, within the left form navigation area of the parent entity, the system will also present an navigation element to show the related child records.
For example, the 1:N relationship between 'Company' and 'Opportunity' will do the following:
- When creating a new Opportunity, the user will have a 'Company' lookup available on the form (assuming it has been added by an administrator)
- When viewing a Company record, a user will be able to view all associated 'Opportunities' as an option within the left navigation pane (ie. all Opportunities which have this Company selected in the ‘Company’ lookup – this is the primary element of the
underlying query for this view)
Please also note that whether or not a specific user is able to see and interact these relationships is also dependent on their assigned security roles/permissions to the concerned entities.
With regards to the what view is presented when you click on the associated 'Opportunities' from a 'Company' record - this is not something which is generated as part of the relationship definition.
When a new entity is created within the system, a number of standard views will be created - one of which is the associated view (customizable by an administrator). The associated view will essentially be displayed whenever a list of associated records (of
that entity type) needs to be displayed - this is regardless of relationship. For example, if you have a 1:N relationship between Company and Opportunity, and a 1:N relationship between Contact and Opportunity; whenever you view the related opportunities from
either a Company OR a Contact, you will be presented with the same view including columns, filters and sort order (etc.).
That is pretty much how 1:N relationships work in a nutshell ... do note however, that there are some slight exceptions to this for some system entities and/or system relationships.
Hope this was useful and makes sense!
Thanks,
Maryse
The xRM Architect:
