Parent-Child Relationships

The Parent-Child Relationship settings on the Properties page are used to configure the parent-child relationship of a child feature type. Thus these settings are enabled only if the current feature type is a component of a compound feature type. Parent-child information is generally saved in the CompoundFeature table, which stores the GIS table of the child feature attribute in the ChildTableName column. For more information on parent-child relationships, see Changing Parent-Child Relationships.

Settings	Description
Place Child First	Indicates that the child feature type is placed before the parent feature type (if the feature type is defined as Placeable). This setting may be needed for certain combinations, such as Pole (parent) and XY (child) feature types.
Parent/Child Key	Indicates the foreign key (i.e., the key field that identifies records in a different table) that links the parent and child. If the Place Child First box is not selected, this setting is the Parent Key, and the drop-down list will display the feature attributes of the child feature type. If the Place Child First box is selected, this setting is the Child Key and the list will display the feature attributes of the parent feature type.
Map	The value for the Map field is used for the propagation of attributes from parents to children and is not required. Three settings are provided: Text, Number, and None. The Text setting indicates that the number of children is derived from a text value (e.g., "ABC") and will be based on the number of characters up to a set delimiter. The Numeric setting will create the given number of children based on a numeric value on the parent. Note that this setting does not imply that the field type is numeric. If the value is stored as a string, it will be converted. The From field indicates the name of the field on the parent from which the children are derived. The To field is the field on the child that will be populated from the parent. If Numeric is selected, the From field will be enabled and the To field will be disabled. If Text is selected, both the From and To fields will be enabled. If None is selected, the From and To fields are disabled.

Settings

Description

Place Child First

Indicates that the child feature type is placed before the parent feature type (if the feature type is defined as Placeable). This setting may be needed for certain combinations, such as Pole (parent) and XY (child) feature types.

Parent/Child Key

Indicates the foreign key (i.e., the key field that identifies records in a different table) that links the parent and child. If the Place Child First box is not selected, this setting is the Parent Key, and the drop-down list will display the feature attributes of the child feature type. If the Place Child First box is selected, this setting is the Child Key and the list will display the feature attributes of the parent feature type.

Map

The value for the Map field is used for the propagation of attributes from parents to children and is not required. Three settings are provided: Text, Number, and None.

The Text setting indicates that the number of children is derived from a text value (e.g., "ABC") and will be based on the number of characters up to a set delimiter. The Numeric setting will create the given number of children based on a numeric value on the parent. Note that this setting does not imply that the field type is numeric. If the value is stored as a string, it will be converted.

The From field indicates the name of the field on the parent from which the children are derived. The To field is the field on the child that will be populated from the parent. If Numeric is selected, the From field will be enabled and the To field will be disabled. If Text is selected, both the From and To fields will be enabled. If None is selected, the From and To fields are disabled.