Association Links and Association Relationships

Association links allow you to navigate from one case object to another, using pre-defined association relationships between the corresponding case classes.

An association relationship exists between two case classes. You create association relationships when you create a case data model.

An association link exists between two case objects:

  • An association link does not exist automatically because there is an association relationship between two case classes. You must create an association link from the source case object to the destination case object from within a business process using a Case Data Operations service task.
  • An association link can only be created between case objects where there is an association relationship between the source and destination case classes.
  • Once created, an association link exists until you delete it, which you must do from within a business process using a Case Data Operations service task.
Note: When using script methods to navigate association links from within a particular process, it is important to realize that association links can be created, navigated or deleted by any process that has access to the case reference for the source case object of the link. The process design may therefore need to account for the fact that a particular association link may or may not exist at runtime.