In general, registry objects can be related to each other via associations. An association belongs to a specified association type. CentraSite supports predefined association types, such as HasParent and Uses; in addition, you can create custom association types.

In CentraSite, an association type is uniquely identified by its value (for example: HasParent, Uses, etc.). The value is specified when the association type is created; it cannot be subsequently modified.

An association type can optionally have one or more locale-specific display names. If no locale-specific display names are specified, the association type's value is used by default.

Each association type has a forward label; this is shown, for example, when a corresponding association is displayed by the impact analysis.

You can optionally specify a backward label. Multiple association types can share forward and/or backward labels.

The CentraSite Application Framework type management feature provides methods for creating, updating, deleting, and finding association types.