Itemrelated

Itemrelated is a term used in data modeling and software design to describe connections between items within a collection, catalog, or dataset. It is not a formal standard, but a practical naming convention employed in schemas and APIs to express item-to-item relationships. An itemrelated relationship links a source item to one or more target items, often accompanied by a relation_type field that classifies the kind of connection, such as similar, replacement, accessory, or dependency, and may include a confidence or weight score.

In databases, itemrelated is typically implemented with a separate relationship table or a self-referential association. The table may contain columns such as item_id, related_item_id, relation_type, and optional attributes like score or timestamp. Indexing on item_id and related_item_id improves query performance when retrieving related items.

In application design, itemrelated enables features such as cross-selling, recommendations, substitution checks, and navigation paths in catalogs. Client code can fetch related items, filter by relation_type, and present them to users. APIs may expose endpoints like /items/{id}/related to retrieve related_item_id sequences with metadata.

Design considerations include choosing the set of relation types, avoiding cyclic or contradictory relationships, handling updates and deletions, and ensuring scalability and data governance for accurate and up-to-date connections. See also related items, similar products, and item metadata strategies.