Parent-Child Relationship Limitations

Note:

This section describes some limitations to the types of parent-child relationships you can create by customizing records. However, through scripting, you can enforce the type of relationship described here.

Users with the Administrator role can't enforce an exclusive parent-child relationship, where:

One child record belongs exclusively to one parent record, and
The child record can't exist without the parent record

This means, the child record is inseparable from the parent record and exists only if the parent does. The child record has no meaning on its own.

For example, a serial number child record can't belong exclusively to an item number parent record. The serial number is an essential part of the item number and has no meaning without it. You can't load the serial number record without the context of the item.

The following behaviors must be possible:

You can change the parent field on the child record
The child record exists only with its parent
The life cycle of the child record matches the life cycle of the parent record.
You can access the child record only from the parent record (the child record does not have its own entry form)
The child record is deleted when the parent record is deleted

You must use scripting to enforce the behaviors required for exclusive parent-child relationships. For more information, see SuiteScript 2.x Scripting Records and Subrecords.

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