Creating Object Set Back References

Alation Cloud Service Applies to Alation Cloud Service instances of Alation

Customer Managed Applies to customer-managed instances of Alation

Note

Beginning in 2022.3, object set custom fields can now be configured in the center pane and glossary terms may also be used as values for custom fields.

Object sets support back references between objects within the Catalog. These back references are also supported in API and for data dictionary upload and download. The references are bi-directional and include references such as:

  • Article to article

  • RDBMS object to article

  • RDBMS object to glossary term

  • Policy to RDBMS object

  • Policy to article

  • Policy to glossary term

  • RDBMS object to RDBMS object

Note

Configuration changes required to create object set custom fields and to configure them on catalog pages must be performed by users in a Catalog Admin or Server Admin role.

Examples of several of these back reference combinations follows.

Article to Article

To create an article to article back reference:

  1. Visit the article page from which you would like to relate an associated article with. In the example below, Permitted Types is the object set custom field displayed.

../../_images/cf_permitted_types.png
  1. Select the + icon next to the custom field (Permitted Types is the example in the following image) to enter the title of the desired article to be referenced and click the desired article.

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  1. The associated article back reference is now shown within the Relevant Articles section on the source article page. Note that should there be more than five articles that appear in this field, a See More… link will appear to view the full list of associated articles.

../../_images/backref_relevant.png

This can also be accomplished by using an “@-mention” within the article. To do so using this method:

  1. Click the Edit button on the article.

../../_images/backref_edit.png
  1. From within the body of the article, enter “@” and in the dialog that appears, enter the title of the desired article to be referenced and click the desired article.

../../_images/backref_edit2.png
  1. Click Save to commit the changes.

../../_images/backref_edit3.png
  1. The back reference now appears in the Relevant Articles section of the source article.

../../_images/backref_edit4.png

Note

@-mention of RDBMS object(s) in a custom field does not create back references.

RDBMS Object to Article

Visit the RDBMS object page from which you would like to relate an associated article with. In the following example we will point to a data source. To create an RDBMS object to article back reference:

  1. Click Apps > Sources.

../../_images/backref_rdbms_article.png
  1. Select the desired data source.

../../_images/backref_rdbms_article2.png
  1. Select the + icon next to the custom field (Permitted Types is the example in the following image) to enter the title of the desired article to be referenced and click the desired article. The associated article back reference is now created and appears in the Referenced By section on the source object page.

../../_images/backref_rdbms_article3.png
  1. Clicking through on the newly created reference shows the Data Source within the Referenced By section. Note that should there be more than five articles that appear in this section, a See More… link will appear to view the full list of associated articles.

../../_images/backref_rdbms_article4.png

Policy to RDBMS Object

Visit the policy from which you would like to relate an associated article with. In the following example we will point to a data source. Note that the Data Governance app is required to reference policies and is priced and licensed separately from the Data Catalog. To create a policy to RDBMS object back reference:

  1. Click Apps > Govern.

../../_images/backref_policy_rdbms.png
  1. Click POLICY CENTER.

../../_images/backref_policy_rdbms2.png
  1. Select the desired policy.

../../_images/backref_policy_rdbms3.png
  1. Select the + icon next to the custom field (Permitted Types is the example in the following image) to enter the title of the desired RDBMS object to be referenced and click the desired RDBMS object. The associated back reference is now created.

../../_images/backref_policy_rdbms4.png
  1. Clicking through on the newly created reference shows the RDBMS object within the Referenced By section. Note that should there be more than five articles that appear in this field, a See More… link will appear to view the full list of associated items.

../../_images/backref_policy_rdbms5.png

RDBMS Object to RDBMS Object

Visit the RDBMS object page from which you would like to relate an associated RDBMS object with. In the following example we will point to a schema. To create an RDBMS object to RDBMS back reference:

  1. Click Apps > Sources.

../../_images/backref_rdbms_article.png
  1. Select the desired schema.

../../_images/backref_rdbms_rdbms.png
  1. Select the + icon next to the custom field (Related Data Objects is the example in the following image) to enter the title of the desired RDBMS object to be referenced and click the desired RDBMS object. The associated back reference is now created and appears in the Related Data Objects section on the source object page.

../../_images/backref_rdbms_rdbms2.png
  1. Clicking through on the newly created reference shows the RDBMS object within the Related Data Objects section. Note that should there be more than five articles that appear in this section, a See More… link will appear to view the full list of associated articles.

../../_images/backref_rdbms_rdbms3.png