A relationship connects two Repository objects in the Repository database. In this release of the Microsoft® Repository, relationships are versioned. That is, every relationship is a VersionedRelationship object. A versioned relationship can connect a particular version of a Repository object to one or more specific versions of the target object. Because every relationship is a VersionedRelationship object, you can declare any relationship with the following line:
Dim myRship As VersionedRelationship
In earlier releases of the Repository, the object model included the Relationship object, but not the VersionedRelationship object. If you have Visual Basic® programs written against earlier releases of the Microsoft Repository, those programs might include declarations like the following:
Dim oldRship As Relationship
These programs will still work, because the Repository's object model still includes the Relationship object. Visual Basic still recognizes the preceding declaration as valid. But remember, every relationship is a versioned relationship. So the object oldRship has the same members as any versioned relationship has. In effect, the following two lines of code are equivalent:
Dim myRship As Relationship
Dim myRship As VersionedRelationship
Even though all relationships are now versioned relationships, the Repository object model includes the Relationship object so that you do not need to rewrite your Visual Basic programs that declare objects as Relationship objects.