Links

A link represents a relationship between two entities, such as ownership of a vehicle by a person or a transaction between two bank accounts. It is represented on the chart surface by a line between the two entities.

Links might have an arrow for direction to indicate a flow of commodities or transaction, or they can be without direction, representing some general association.

All links have the same representation of a line between the two related entities. The style of the line can indicate confidence in the relationship. For example, a solid line might represent an established relationship such as the documented ownership of a vehicle. The template that is used to create the chart contains a set of line strengths that associate a confidence level with a line style. For example, a solid line to represent confirmed information, a dashed line to represent unconfirmed information, and a dotted line to represent tentative information. You can also create your own by customizing the chart.

If there are several relationships or transactions between the same two entities, you can choose to display them as one single link, a link for each direction, or as separate links. This link multiplicity setting is part of a link's style.

A link contains properties, which store information about it. For example, a transaction might have an amount and a date and time.

Type

Each link has a type to categorize it, such as Owner, Transaction, or Subscriber. This type categorization means that you can locate and analyze information more efficiently. For example, if a chart contains vehicles and their owners, you can use an owner link type. You can then search for the owner of a vehicle by specifying an owner link type in Visual Search.

Note:

If you are adding a link of a specific type to a data source, for example if you are using Analyst's Notebook to add a link to an iBase database, there might be restrictions on the types of entity that can be linked.

The template that is used to create the chart contains a set of link types. If you need an alternative link type, you can create your own by customizing your chart. However, before you create a new link type, make sure that a suitable one does not exist. You can choose to merge any new link type that you create back into the standard template.

Link types have characteristics that define the type such as name and color.

Table 1. Analyst's Notebook link type characteristics.
The different characteristics that each link type defines.
Characteristic	Description
Name	The name that is used to identify the link type.
Color	The color of the line that is used to represent links of this type. You can also change the color on a per link basis.
Semantic type	A category that defines the real-world meaning of data, and therefore defines how applications interpret that data. For example, Organization Link is a semantic type that might be assigned to link types such as Employee or Director. When you search for a link with an Organization Link semantic type, Analyst's Notebook search the types Employee, Director, and any other types that have the semantic type Organization Link assigned. You can also change the semantic type on a per link basis.
User palettes	The palettes that contain the link type.