Link by Attribute - Many-to-Many

I guess it is not possible to create many-to-many relationships using Link by Attribute ... but I'm hoping someone will tell me I'm wrong (!)


psnox - Wed May 31 10:21:09 EDT 2017

Re: Link by Attribute - Many-to-Many
PekkaMakinen - Thu Jun 01 01:06:32 EDT 2017

You can have many target objects for one source object in Link by Attribute, in that case each Absolute Number value has to be on separate line

https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSYQBZ_9.6.1/com.ibm.doors.requirements.doc/topics/t_linkingbyattribute.html

Re: Link by Attribute - Many-to-Many
psnox - Thu Jun 01 03:55:52 EDT 2017

PekkaMakinen - Thu Jun 01 01:06:32 EDT 2017

You can have many target objects for one source object in Link by Attribute, in that case each Absolute Number value has to be on separate line

https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSYQBZ_9.6.1/com.ibm.doors.requirements.doc/topics/t_linkingbyattribute.html

Thanks for responding ... but, for me, that is a many-to-1 (or, depending on your viewpoint, a 1-to-many) relationship

Re: Link by Attribute - Many-to-Many
AdrianHaw - Thu Jun 01 08:20:55 EDT 2017

psnox - Thu Jun 01 03:55:52 EDT 2017

Thanks for responding ... but, for me, that is a many-to-1 (or, depending on your viewpoint, a 1-to-many) relationship

How would you get m:n for a single object?? The m:n relation would apply to linked objects in a set (module) when you have more than 1 objects in more than 1 modules. In DOORS links are directional and stored with the source of the link, therefore you have always a 1:n for any single object but the combination of links between modules gives you m:n.

 

eg:  Module 1 has 2 Objects (1 and 2) and Module 2 has 2 objects (10 and 11)    Mod1->Mod2

 

Assume that you have an attribute in Module 1 called "Target Object Abs Nr" and you want to link objects in Module 1 to Objects in module 2, eg: object 1 links to 10 and 11 and object 2 also links to objects 10 and 11.

Module 1 looks like

Absolute Number Target Object Abs Nr
1

10

11

2

10

11

 

After you run 'link by attribute' using the attribute "Target Object Abs Nr" then you will have m:n links (between objects in modules):

Object 1 links to Objects 10, 11

Object 2 links to Objects 10,11

Object 10 has links from Objects 1, 2

Object 11 has links from Objects 1, 2

 

If you then extended this and created links from Module 2 objects to objects in a new Module 3 (containing objects 100, 101, 102)   Mod1->Mod2->Mod3

then you could have a scenario for objects in Mod2 like:

 

Object 2 links to Objects 10,11 AND Object 2 has links from Objects 100,102  ... Maybe this is what you are thinking of as m:n but when using "Link by Attribute" you can have only 1 target module specified, so you are creating always 1:n relations and m:n needs therefore 2 executions of "Link by Attribute" 2 x 1:n to give you m:n.