Bulk management of parent-child relationships

The bulk management of element hierarchies involves assigning, moving, or removing parent-child relationships in the modeling grid. These operations simplify hierarchy maintenance and reduce manual updates for large data sets.

The benefits of the bulk management of parent-child relationships include:

  • Efficiency: Update multiple elements simultaneously instead of modifying them individually.
  • Accuracy: Prevent circular references and preserve structural integrity through built-in safeguards.
  • Flexibility: Restructure hierarchies by moving sub-trees or assigning multiple parents in a single workflow.
  • Accessibility: Perform operations with keyboard shortcuts.

Bulk assignment

With the Assign to option, you can link multiple selected elements to one or more common parents. Typically, the Assign to option is used when you create or extend hierarchies.

The bulk assignment includes:

  • Multi-selection: Multiple target parents are selected in a single operation.
  • Smart filtering: Selected elements and their descendants are excluded from the parent selection to prevent circular references.
  • Deduplication: Only new parent-child relationships are created, and existing relationships are skipped.

Bulk movement

With the Move to option, you can relocate a group of elements from their current visual parent to a new single parent.

The bulk movement includes:

  • Contextual availability: The Move to option is available only when all selected elements share the same parent.
  • Sub-tree preservation: An element is moved with all its descendants.
  • Relationship management: An existing parent-child relationship is removed, and a new relationship is established. Other, unrelated parent assignments are preserved.

Bulk removal

With the Remove option, you can disconnect selected elements from their current parent.

The bulk removal includes:

  • Safety check: To prevent accidental data restructuring, a confirmation prompt is displayed before relationships are removed.
  • Targeted action: Only specific parent-child relationships for selected elements are removed. If an element has no other parents after removal, the element becomes a root element.

Keyboard shortcuts

Note: Keyboard shortcuts work only when the element grid has focus.

This table shows keyboard shortcuts to initiate the Assign to, Move to, or Remove actions:

Action Shortcut Prerequisite
Assign to Ctrl + Alt + A Elements must be selected.
Move to Ctrl + Alt + M Elements must share the same parent.
Remove Ctrl + Alt + D At least one element must have a parent.
Note: You must press the action key (A, M, or D) within 1.5 seconds after pressing the Ctrl + Alt combination.

Behind-the-scenes processes

These behind-the scenes processes are performed during the bulk actions:

  • Circular reference prevention: Hierarchies are validated in real-time. To prevent the movement of a parent element into one of its child elements, the parent's child elements are disabled in the selection list.
  • Confirmation before an element transformation: If you add children, a base element becomes a consolidated element and you are prompted to confirm the operation before the change is applied.

Troubleshooting

This table shows some possible issues, their possible causes, and how to resolve them:

Issue Possible cause Resolution
Move to is disabled. Selected elements belong to different parents. Ensure that all selected elements share the same parent before you move them.
A specific element is missing from the parent selection dialog box. The element is a descendant of your current selection. You can't assign an element to its child or grandchild because this creates a circular reference.
Keyboard shortcuts don't work. The grid doesn't have focus or the 1.5-second window has expired. To make the grid focused, click inside the grid. Then, press Ctrl + Alt + action key (A, M, or D).
Note: Press an action key (A, M, or D) within 1.5 seconds after pressing the Ctrl + Alt combination.

FAQs

What happens when I remove an element's only parent?

The element becomes a root-level element in the hierarchy.

Can I assign an element to multiple parents simultaneously?

Yes. With the Assign to option, you can select multiple parents to create multiple relationships simultaneously.