Connections

What You'll Learn

Understanding connections will help you create a truly relational database that links information logically across your application. You'll discover how to establish different types of relationships between tables, manage these connections effectively, and leverage them to create powerful functionality. By connecting your data, you'll unlock new ways to view related information, control access for your users, and create deeper insights across your entire application.

Connections help you:

Link related information across different tables
Avoid duplicating data unnecessarily
Create more powerful searches, reports, and displays
Build complex relationships that mirror your real-world processes

What are Connections?

Connections are special fields that establish relationships between records in different tables. For example, a connection might link each customer record to all their associated orders, or connect employees to their department. These relationships enable you to create forms, reports, and workflows that span multiple tables.

Think about:

A customer's story includes not just their details, but what they've ordered and their purchasing patterns
A project comes to life when you can see which employees are working on it and track their assignments
Inventory makes more sense when you can connect it to shipping records and receiving data

Tip: When designing connections, consider the relationship type (one-to-one, one-to-many, or many-to-many) that best represents how your real-world data relates.

Key Components

Table Relationships: Understand how parent (source) and child (target) tables work together to create a cohesive data structure
Connection Types: Learn about one-to-many and many-to-many relationships and when to use each one
Creating Connections: Discover how to add and configure connection fields to establish relationships between tables
Managing Connections: Find strategies for maintaining, updating, and optimizing your connections over time