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Create and manage relationships

 

Relationships record statements or hunches you have developed about how items in your project are linked—for example, Anna 'employs' Ken or industrial waste 'impacts' water quality. You can create relationships in your project and then gather evidence about the relationship from your source material.

What do you want to do?

 

Create a relationship

  1. On the Create tab, in the Nodes group, click Relationship.

The New Relationship dialog box opens.

  1. Click the Select buttons beside the From and To boxes to choose the items involved in the relationship. The Select Project Item dialog box opens.

  1. On the left, click the folder name that contains the project item that you want.

  2. On the right, select the project item that you want to include in the relationship. You can click the Filter button to display only items that match specified criteria.

  3. Click OK.

  1. Click the Select button beside the Type box, then select a relationship type and click OK—refer to Create and manage relationship types for more information on relationship types.

  2. Click OK.

NOTE  

  • Relationships must be unique—for example, you cannot have two instances of the relationship, Anna 'employs' Ken.

  • You can also assign a color to a relationship—refer to Assign color to nodes for more information.

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Convert a relationship to a node

You can convert a relationship to an ordinary node. The coding at the original relationship is retained in the new node.

  1. In Navigation View, click the Nodes button, and then click the Relationships folder.

  2. In List View, click the relationship you want to convert to a node.

  3. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Copy.

Keyboard shortcut  To copy, press CTRL+C.

  1. In Navigation View, click the destination node folder.

  2. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click the Paste image.

  3. Click Yes to confirm.

NOTE  

  • Using Copy retains the original relationship in the Relationship folder. If you wish to remove the relationship as part of the conversion, use Cut instead of Copy.

  • Once you have converted a relationship into a node, the link between the two project items is removed. Any models that include the relationship as part of a linked project item may be affected. Refer to About models for more information.

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Merge relationships

As your project evolves, you may find that you have two relationships with similar meaning—for example industrial waste 'causes' water pollution and industrial waste 'impacts' water quality. You can simplify your project by merging one relationship into the other.

  1. In Navigation View, click the Nodes button, and then click the Relationships folder.

  2. In List View, select the relationship you want to merge into another relationship.

  3. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Copy.

Keyboard shortcut  To copy, press CTRL+C.

  1. In List View, click the target relationship.

  2. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Merge, then click Merge into Selected Node. The Merge Into Node dialog box opens.

  3. Click OK.

NOTE

  • As a result of the merge, the target relationship is updated to include content coded at the merged relationship. Any 'see also' links or annotations from the merged relationship are now available in the target relationship.

  • Using Copy retains the original relationship in the Relationship folder. If you wish to remove the relationship as part of the merge, use Cut instead of Copy.

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Delete relationships

  1. In Navigation View, click the Nodes button, and then click the Relationships folder.

  2. In List View, click the relationship you want to delete.

  3. On the Home tab, in the Editing group, click Delete.

The Delete Confirmation dialog box opens.

  1. Click Yes to confirm.

NOTE

  • If you delete a relationship, any coding at the relationship is also removed from the project.

  • If you delete one side of a relationship, the entire relationship is deleted.

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Change the project items in a relationship

  1. In Navigation View, click the Nodes button, and then click the Relationships folder.

  2. In List View, click the relationship you want to change.

  3. On the Home tab, in the Item group, click the Properties image.

The Relationship Properties dialog box opens.

  1. Click the Select buttons beside the From and To boxes to choose the items involved in the relationship. The Select Project Item dialog box opens.

  1. On the left, click the folder name that contains the project item that you want.

  2. On the right, select the project item that you want to include in the relationship. You can click the Filter button to display only items that match specified criteria.

  3. Click OK.

  1. Click OK.

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Change the relationship type

  1. In Navigation View, click the Nodes button, and then click the Relationships folder.

  2. In List View, click the relationship you want to change.

  3. On the Home tab, in the Item group, click the Properties image.

The Relationship Properties dialog box open.

  1. Click the Select button beside the Type box, then select a relationship type and click OK.

  2. Click OK.

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Open the 'to' or 'from' side of the relationship

You can open the individual project items that are linked in a relationship to view the coding.

  1. In Navigation View, click the Nodes button, and then click the Relationships folder.

  2. In List View, click the relationship you want to explore.

  3. Right-click to see the shortcut menu, and then click Open From Item or Open To Item. The selected item opens in Detail View.

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View the relationship coding in a chart

You can create a chart to visually represent the sources and attributes coded at a relationship.

  1. In Navigation View, click the Nodes button, and then click the Relationships folder.

  2. In List View, click the relationship that you want to explore as a chart.

  3. On the Explore tab, in the Visualizations group, click the arrow below Chart, and then click Chart Relationship Coding.

The chart opens in Detail View.

NOTE  You can also create a chart that displays the relationship coding by attribute by selecting Chart Relationship Coding by Attribute Value on the Chart button, in the Visualizations group, on the Explore tab.

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Export a relationship

  1. In Navigation View, click the Nodes button, and then click the Relationships folder.

  2. In List View, click the relationship you want to export.

  3. On the External Data tab, in the Export group, click Items.

The Export Options dialog box opens.

  1. From the Export options, select the content you want to export—for example, you can export all the content (including media and pictures) in HTML format or you could export the coded text (reference view) as a Microsoft Word document.
  1. (Optional) Under Save As, select the Browse button to change the name, location or format of the exported items.
  2. Select the properties and other options that you want to include in the exported file—for more information refer to Export Options.
  3. To display the exported node after exporting, select the Open on Export check box.
  4. Click OK.

NOTE To export multiple relationships, select them in list view and choose to export. In the export options, you can change the file type and folder location but you cannot change the default name of the exported files.

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