AFReferenceStrength Enumeration
- Last UpdatedNov 18, 2025
- 2 minute read
- PI System
- AF SDK 2024 R2
- Developer
This is an enumeration that defines the possible values used when
specifying the strength of an AFReferenceType.
Namespace: OSIsoft.AF.Asset
Assembly: OSIsoft.AFSDK (in OSIsoft.AFSDK.dll) Version: 3.1.1.1182
Syntax
public enum AFReferenceStrength
Public Enumeration AFReferenceStrength Dim instance As AFReferenceStrength
public enum class AFReferenceStrength
type AFReferenceStrength
Members
| Member name | Value | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strong | 0 | With a strong reference, an AFElement will exist as long as it has one or more strongly related parents or belongs to a Composition relationship. | |
| Weak | 1 | A weak reference is used when the parent does not want to define the lifetime of a child AFElement. | |
| Composition | 2 | A composition reference means the parent AFElement solely defines and owns the child AFElement. In this type of relationship, a child AFElement may only be contained in one composition parent relationship and deleting the parent AFElement will delete the child AFElement. Security settings will also be kept consistent for all elements in the composition relationship. |
Remarks
The AFReferenceType.Strength property uses the values of this enumeration. The strength of a reference defines how the lifetime of the child AFElement depends upon the parent AFElement in the relationship.
When a Composition relationship is added to an element with an existing Strong relationship, the existing Strong relationships effectively become Weak relationships. This is because when the element is deleted from the Composition relationship, it will delete the child element.