Defining Specification Relationships

You can define relationships between specifications in the current workspace, including specifications in other projects. These specification relationships affect the behavior of entities in UIM. For example, listing Equipment Holder specifications in the Equipment Holders section of the Related Specifications tab of an Equipment specification means that Equipment entities based on this specification can provide only equipment holders based on the related specifications.

Each entity type has a different set of valid possible specification relationships. The Related Specifications tab has sections for the valid specification relationships. The Related Specifications tab also includes an Others section where you can include specifications to which you want to establish a custom relationship. Custom relationships require that you create rulesets to trigger behaviors and actions in UIM.

When you define a specification relationship, its properties are set to default values. You can modify the properties after the relationship has been defined.

To define specification relationships:

In a Specification editor, click the Related Specifications tab.
Scroll to the section for the entity type of the specification relationship you are defining.
Click Select.

The Selection Dialog dialog box appears.
Do one of the following:
- Select an existing specification and click OK.
- Click New to create and relate a new specification. See "Creating New Specifications" for more information.
The specification appears in the Related Specifications tab, which lists the specification name, the cartridge in which it is located, and the type of relationship (CHILD by default).
(Optional) If the relationship is child-to-parent, change the relationship type to PARENT.

The normal relationship is defined as a child. You must specify a parent relationship only when the related entity is in a separate cartridge that exists independently. See "Changing Specification Relationship Properties" for more information.
From the File menu, select Save.