SAS Namespace Hierarchy and Association Diagrams

Overview of Hierarchy and Association Diagrams

This section provides graphical representations of the metadata types described in Overview of SAS Namespace Submodels. Hierarchy diagrams illustrate supertype/subtype relationships. Association diagrams show associations between related metadata types. The purpose of the diagrams is to help you to understand the relationships between SAS namespace metadata types. By understanding these relationships, you can

identify which metadata types you need to use to describe common application elements
assess the data structures that will be affected when a change is made to an object in a particular hierarchy
access metadata types by using their associated properties
identify which metadata types can be created independently and which ones must be created in association with other types.

The diagrams are grouped according to submodel. After reviewing the diagrams, see Model Usage Scenarios for examples of how to use the SAS namespace metadata types to create actual objects of the most commonly used application entities.

Understanding the Diagrams

The diagrams in this section are modified UML diagrams. The acronym "UML" stands for Unified Modeling Language, which is an object-oriented analysis and design language developed by the Object Management Group (OMG).

Each diagram shows only a part of the total structure. The following notes apply to all diagrams:

Each square in the diagram represents a metadata type; the text in the square is the name of the metadata type.
Each line (connection) indicates that two metadata types have an association.
Arrows indicate a subtype/supertype relationship in which the metadata type being pointed to is the supertype.

The following notes apply only to association diagrams:

The text preceded by a + (plus sign) outside of each square is an association name. The association name describes the nature of a square's relationship to the connected square.
In the SAS Metadata Model, associations are bi-directional; two association names are assigned to any relationship, describing the relationship from the perspective of each metadata type. In the diagrams, association names should be read cross-wise. That is, the association name that is directly outside of a box describes the relationship from the perspective of the object opposite the name.
The n..n describes the cardinality of the association.

For more information about associations and cardinality, see Understanding Associations.

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