Association References

Association References are the most basic References. They are used to link to other elements in the model, or to elements defined in DataResources.

Associations:

• Are one-directional. Opposite links are not (yet) supported.
• Are not hierarchical.
• Can target ElementClasses from other Ontologies, as long as there is a dependency in that direction.
• Require the target ElementClass to have identifiers.

model/references/ScriptParameter_type.xml

<reference name="type">
  <associationType name="association"/>
  <owner name="ScriptParameter" ontology="demo"/>
  <target name="ScriptParameterType" ontology="demo"/>
  <cardinality>
    <minimum>0</minimum>
    <maximum>1</maximum>
  </cardinality>
</reference>

Association in action

When used to create models, we can then reference elements defined in other parts of the model.

MyScript.xml

<script>
  <parameters>
    <scriptParameter>
      <name>output</name>
      <type>File</type>
    </scriptParameter>
  </parameters>
</script>

scriptParameterTypes.xml

<dataResource type="demo::ScriptParameterType">
  <scriptParameterType>
    <name>File</name>
  </scriptParameterType>
</dataResource>

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