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Add Relation with objects

This API request adds related objects to the existing collection. Child objects must be referenced by their objectIdvalues.

Blocking API

int result = Backendless.Data.Of( "TABLE-NAME" ).AddRelation( 
                              Dictionary<string, object> parentObject,
                              string relationColumnName,
                              object[] children );
int result = Backendless.Data.Of<E>().AddRelation( 
                              E parentObject,
                              string relationColumnName,
                              object[] children );

Non-Blocking API

Backendless.Data.Of( "TABLE-NAME" ).AddRelation( 
                 Dictionary<string, object> parentObject,
                 string relationColumnName,
                 object[] children,
                 AsyncCallback<int> callback );
Backendless.Data.Of<E>().AddRelation( 
                 E parentObject,
                 string relationColumnName,
                 object[] children,
                 AsyncCallback;<int> callback );

where:

Argument                Description
TABLE-NAME Name of the table where the parent object is stored.
E parent's object .NET class. The class name identifies the table where the parent object is stored.
parentObject The object which will be assigned related children for relatedColumnName. When this argument is an instance of System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary (for the dictionary-based approach), it must contain the "objectId" property.
relationColumnName Name of the column identifying the relation. Objects from the children collection will be added as related for the  column in parentObject. The column name may optionally include table name separated by the colon character as well as cardinality which determines the type of relationship (one to one or one to many) (see the note below):

Important

If the column does not exist in the parent table at the time when the API is called, the value of the "relationColumnName " argument must include the name of the child table separated by colon and the cardinality notation. The cardinality is expressed as ":1 " for one-to-one relations and ":n " for one-to-many relations. For example, the value of "myOrder:Order:1 " will create a one-to-one relation column "myOrder " in the parent table. The column will point to the Order child table. Likewise, the value of "myOrder:Order:n " will create a one-to-many relation column "myOrder " pointing to the Order table.

Argument                Description
children An array of child objects to add to the relation identified by relatedColumnName.
callback a responder object which will receive a callback when the related objects have been added or if an error occurs. Applies to the non-blocking method only.

Return Value

Number of child objects added to the relation. The non-blocking call receives the return value through a callback executed on the AsyncCallback object.

Example

The example below adds a related object for a one-to-one column named address declared in the Person table. If the relation already contains an object, server returns an error since the addRelation API for one-to-one relations can add an object only once. The column must be declared in the table prior to the execution of the request shown below. This necessity is explained by missing table name qualifier in the relationColumnName argument - notice the relation column name is "address". If it were specified as "address:Address", then the column would be created automatically.
relation-column

Dictionary<string, object> parentObject = new Dictionary<string, object>();
parentObject[ "objectId" ] = "41230622-DC4D-204F-FF5A-F893A0324800";

Dictionary<string, object> childObject = new Dictionary<string, object>();
childObject[ "objectId" ] = "3464C734-F5B8-09F1-FFD3-18647D12E700";

object[] children = new object[] { childObject };

AsyncCallback<int> addRelationCallback = new AsyncCallback<int>(
  childrenSet =>
  {
    System.Console.WriteLine( "Number of child objects added in the relation " + childrenSet );
  },
  error =>
  {
    System.Console.WriteLine( "Server returned an error " + error.Message );
  } );

Backendless.Data.Of( "Person" ).AddRelation( parentObject, 
                                             "address:Address:n", 
                                             children, 
                                             addRelationCallback );
Person personObject = // personObject retrieval is out of scope in this example
Address addressObject = // addressObject retrieval is out of scope in this example

object[] children = new object[] { addressObject };

AsyncCallback<int> addRelationCallback = new AsyncCallback<int>(
  childrenSet =>
  {
    System.Console.WriteLine( "Number of child objects added in the relation " + childrenSet );
  },
  error =>
  {
    System.Console.WriteLine( "Server returned an error " + error.Message );
  } );

Backendless.Data.Of<Person>().AddRelation( personObject, 
                                              "address:Address:n", 
                                              children, 
                                              addRelationCallback );