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Directionality

Relationships are unidirectional, which means that the path that leads from the source to the destination can’t be traveled in the opposite direction—you can’t use a relationship to go from the destination to the source. So, although you can use a toPhoto relationship to find the photo for a particular person, you can’t use this relationship in reverse to get a person’s name.

Unidirectionality is enforced by the way a relationship is resolved. Resolving a relationship means finding the correct destination record or records given a specific source record.

Bidirectional relationships—in which you can look up records in either direction—can be created by adding a separate return-trip, or inverse, relationship. But there is no concept of a single relationship that is bidirectional.




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© 2002 Apple Computer, Inc. (Last Updated November 2002)