‘links’ Structure

The 'links' structure is a list of activities linked to the current activity.

Links may point to the activities existing prior to the current transaction or added in the current transaction.

• If a link cannot be added, a warning is issued and the activity is still handled normally

• If a link to the specified activity already exists, nothing happens

• If a link to the specified activity of another type exists then the existing link is erased first (e.g. there is a Start After link and a Start Together link is added)

• For 'cancel_appointment' commands, links will be ignored

The 'links' structure consists of an array of the following optional structures (at least one must be present):

'links' structure elements

Name	Type	Description
erase_links	struct	array of 'link_type' elements defining the link type to be deleted for the activity If the 'erase_links' structure contains no 'link_type' elements, all existing links of the activity are deleted.
link	struct	element containing the data of the link to be created between two activities Note: this element is used instead of the obsolete 'link_start_after' and 'link_start_together' elements
link_start_together	struct	element that contains details of another activity that will start simultaneously with the current activity Note: obsolete element replaced with the 'link' element, however, still used for backward compatibility
link_start_after	struct	element that contains details of another activity that will start before the current activity Note: obsolete element replaced with the 'link' element, however, still used for backward compatibility

'erase-links' structure elements

Name	Required	Type	Description
link_type	No	string	label of the link type to be deleted. All links of the same type will be deleted. Note: Each directed link has two labels. If the 'erase_links' structure contains only one label, only one direction of the link will be deleted.

'link' structure elements

Name	Required	Type	Description
appt_number	The fields need to correspond to the key fields mentioned in section 4.1.1.1	string	ID of the activity to be linked to the current activity in the client system
customer_number
name
link_type		string	label of the link type. The 'from' and 'to' type labels are acceptable. Note: for segmentable activities, only 'related', 'same-resource' and 'different-resources' link types are supported.
min_interval, max_interval	No	int	minimal and maximal time interval between two linked activities. This parameter should be present or absent depending on the selected link type.

• 'links' Structure Example

<appointment> 
	<appt_number>A</appt_number> 
	<links> 
		<erase_links/> 
		<link_start_after> 
			<appt_number>B</appt_number> 
		</link_start_after> 
		<link_start_together> 
			<appt_number>C</appt_number> 
		</link_start_together> 
		<link> 
			<appt_number>D</appt_number> 
			<link_type>related</link_type> 
		</link> 
		<link> 
			<appt_number>E</appt_number> 
			<link_type>clone of</link_type> 
		</link> 
		<link> 
			<appt_number>F</appt_number> 
			<link_type>start-after</link_type> 
			<min_interval>10</min_interval> 
			<max_interval>60</max_interval> 
		</link> 
		<link> 
			<appt_number>F</appt_number> 
			<link_type>start-together</link_type> 
		</link> 
	</links> 
</appointment>