Junction objects

Salesforce cannot link two records directly in a many-to-many relationship, where each side can have many of the other. A product belongs to several categories, and a category holds several products. One-to-one and one-to-many relationships are a plain lookup field on the record; many-to-many needs a record in between.

StoreConnect solves this the standard Salesforce way, with a junction object: a small record in the middle holding a relationship field to each side. If you have come from relational databases, this is the join table you would expect, and the two relationship fields are its foreign keys. Salesforce calls it a junction object, and StoreConnect names these records after the two things they join, so that is the term used here.

Use this article when a relationship you expect to find on an object is not there. Most of the time it is on a junction, one step away.

Why a content block is not on the page

The clearest example is the one that surprises people most often. Open the Content Block object and you will find lookups to Media and nothing else. There is no Page field. Yet content blocks plainly appear on pages.

The link lives on Content Block Page, which holds two fields:

Field	Points at
s_c__Content_Block_Id__c	Content Block
s_c__Page_Id__c	Page

One record per block-on-a-page. Put the same block on three pages and you get three of these records, each with its own Position, so the same block can sit in a different place on each page.

Every object reference article now has a Referenced by section listing the records that point at it, with an Also links to column naming what a join record connects it to. That is the fastest way to answer “what is this related to?” for any object.

Recognizing one

A junction object in StoreConnect usually has all three of these:

• A name made of the things it joins. Product_Tag__c, Zone_Country__c, Content_Blocks_Pages__c, Membership_Article__c.
• A relationship field to each side, named <Thing>_Id__c.
• Few fields of its own. Often just Position or a quantity, sometimes nothing at all.

None of those is absolute. Some junctions carry real data: a Fulfillment Item records how much of an order item a shipment covers. Some join three things rather than two: Promotion 2 Condition pairs a condition and a reward with a promotion. And some are named for what they represent rather than for both sides, like Payment Item.

Equally, an object with two lookups is not automatically a junction. Address points at both Account and Contact, but it is a record in its own right with a street, city, and postcode. The test is purpose, not shape: would the record still mean anything if you removed the links? For a junction, no.

Master-detail or lookup

Junctions use both, and the difference matters when you delete something.

• Master-detail ties the junction’s life to its parent. Delete the parent and the junction records go with it. On Content Block Page, the Page side is master-detail, so deleting a page removes its placements, leaving the content blocks themselves untouched.
• Lookup leaves the junction behind. The field simply empties.

Check the Relationships table on the object reference article before you delete anything in bulk. The Type column tells you which behavior applies.

Working with junctions

Querying. You cannot reach across a junction in one hop. To list the categories a product belongs to, query the junction and traverse from there:

```sql

SELECT s_c__Category_Id__r.Name FROM s_c__Products_Product_Categories__c WHERE s_c__Product_Id__c = ‘01t…’ ```

Importing. Create both sides first, then the junction records. A junction row with an unresolved key fails, and master-detail junctions cannot be created before their master exists at all. Use s_c__sC_Id__c external IDs to reference records you have just loaded rather than looking up Salesforce IDs.

Counting. A junction row is one relationship, not one product. Reporting on Products_Product_Categories__c counts placements; a product in four categories contributes four rows.

Junction objects in StoreConnect

Grouped by the area they belong to. Each links to its object reference, where the Relationships and Referenced by tables give the field names and types.

Catalog

Junction	Joins
Product Product Category	Product2 and Product Category
Product Tag	Product2 and Tag
Product Media	Product2 and Media
Product Tax	Product2 and Tax
Product Tax Group	Product2 and Tax Group
Product Variant	Product2 and Product2, for variant sets
Related Product	Product2 and Product2
Related Product Category	Product Category and Product Category
Product Category Hierarchy	Product Category and Product Category, for nesting
Account Product Category	Account and Product Category
Supplier Account	Account and Product2

Content and design

Junction	Joins
Content Block Page	Content Block and Page
Content Block Product	Content Block and Product2
Content Block Article	Content Block and Article
Content Block Product Category	Content Block and Product Category
Content Block Child	Content Block and Content Block, for nesting
Articles Article Categories	Article and Article Category
Article Tag	Article and Tag
Page Tag	Page and Tag
Related Article	Article and Article
Related Page	Page and Page

Customers and access

Junction	Joins
Membership Article	Membership and Article
Membership Page	Membership and Page
Location Group Account	Account and Location Group

Shipping zones and geography

Junction	Joins
Zone Country	Zone and Country
Zone State	Zone and State
Zone City	Zone and City
Zone Postcode	Zone and Postcode

A zone is built from whichever of these four you need. They are separate junctions rather than one, because a zone can mix levels: a whole country plus a handful of individual postcodes.

Fulfillment and inventory

Junction	Joins
Product Fulfillment Category	Product2 and Fulfillment Category
Fulfillment Category Station	Fulfillment Category and Fulfillment Station
Outlet Stock Location	Outlet and Stock Location
Store Stock Location	Store and Stock Location
Product Delivery Window	Product2 and Delivery Window
Fulfillment Item	Order Item and Shipment, with an optional Asset
Cart Fulfillment Item	Cart Fulfillment and Cart Item, the pre-order equivalent

Orders, payments, and promotions

Junction	Joins
Voucher Payment	Voucher and Payment
Order Item Reward	Order Item and Reward
Cart Promotion 2	Cart and Promotion 2
Tax Tax Group	Tax and Tax Group
Payment Item	Payment and Order Item, so one payment can cover several items
Allocated Fulfillment Payment	Fulfillment Item and Payment Item
Order Item Tax	Order Item and Tax
Promotion 2 Condition	Promotion 2 with a Condition and a Reward
Permitted Restricted Item	Order Item and Permitted Restricted Product

Store configuration and POS

Junction	Joins
Store Form	Store and Form
Product Form	Product2 and Form
Store Campaign	Store and Campaign
Store Feed	Store and Feed
Product Bookable Location	Product2 and Bookable Location
Register Shift User	Register Shift and User
Outlet User	Outlet and User, with the user’s Outlet User Type

You should now be able to look at any object reference article, see from its Referenced by table which junctions point at it, and follow the Also links to column to whatever sits on the other side.