Creating a simple relationship class

This topic applies to ArcGIS for Desktop Standard and ArcGIS for Desktop Advanced only.

Note:

Although relationship classes can be both created and edited in ArcGIS for Desktop Advanced and ArcGIS for Desktop Standard, they are read-only in ArcGIS for Desktop Basic. The feature classes participating in a relationship class will also be read-only in ArcGIS for Desktop Basic.

You can create new relationship classes between any feature class or table within your geodatabase using tools in ArcCatalog or the Catalog window. These tools can be used to create simple, composite, and attributed relationship classes.

Learn more about relationship classes

Relationship classes appear in the Catalog tree; you can inspect their properties as well as the relationships for any particular feature class.

The example in the following task shows how to create a relationship class between a feature class that stores parcel objects and a table that stores owner objects. It is a simple, nonattributed relationship. In the database, a parcel can be owned by a single owner, and an owner can own a single parcel, so it is a one-to-one relationship.

Steps:

1. In the Catalog tree, right-click the geodatabase or feature dataset in which you want to create the new relationship class and point to New > Relationship Class.
2. Type the name for the new relationship class.
3. Click the Origin table or feature class.
4. Click the Destination table or feature class.
5. Click Next.
6. Click Simple (peer-to-peer) relationship.
7. Click Next.
8. Type the forward and backward path labels.
9. Click the message notification direction.
10. Click Next.
11. Click the first cardinality option. In this example, an owner can own a single parcel, and a parcel can be owned by a single owner, so this is a one-to-one (1:1) relationship.
12. Click Next.
13. Click No. In this example, the relationship class does not require attributes.
14. Click Next.
15. Click the drop-down arrow to see a list of fields from the Origin table or feature class. Click the primary key for this feature class or table.
16. Click the drop-down arrow to see a list of fields from the Destination table or feature class. Only those fields that are the same type as selected in step 15 are displayed. Click the foreign key that refers to the primary key selected in step 15.
17. Click Next.
18. Review the options you specified for your new relationship class. If you want to change something, you can go back through the wizard by clicking Back.
19. Click Finish to create the new relationship class when satisfied with your options.

Tip:

In this example, you are not adding attributes to your relationship class, although any relationship class can have attributes.

Learn more about creating an attributed relationship class

Tip:

Many-to-many (N:M) relationship classes require the relationship class to have its own table in the database. You can optionally add attributes to this table, or you can allow ArcGIS to manage the schema of the table for you.

Tip:

By default, the notification direction for a simple relationship is None.