Associations model relationships between features that are not geometrically coincident. This allows modeling connectivity between features that are not coincident, the structural support of assets, and features contained within other features.
The utility network has the following types of associations:
Depending on the association type, there are several methods for controlling association visibility in the map view. On the Data tab, in the Associations group, connectivity and structural attachment associations can be viewed using the View command. Containment association visibility can be configured to show or hide content features using the Display Content drop-down menu. This turns on the display filters for utility network layers. For example, on a map, you would see a substation but not the content features such as devices, conductors, and assemblies.
Note:
A display filter named DisplayContent must be configured on the AssociationStatus field for use with the Display Content command.
Learn how to configure display filters using the association status attribute
See Associations for details about each association type. Review the sections below for details and steps for controlling visibility on associations.
View connectivity and structural attachment associations
Associations are not stored as features in the geodatabase and do not display on the map, other than as dirty areas generated after creation. To visualize connectivity and structural attachment associations on an active map, enable View Associations Mode. You can also generate network diagrams to view these types of associations.
Keep the following in mind when using View Associations Mode:
- Only connectivity and structural attachment associations within the current map extent are displayed when enabling View Associations Mode. Associations drawn honor the settings defined on the Associations tab of the Network Options dialog box.
- When activating View Associations Mode, associations are drawn for the current map extent. The View command can be toggled to deactivate and reactivate View Associations Mode to refresh associations. This is necessary for situations in which edits are made to associations in the current map extent, or the map extent has changed due to panning or zooming
- The maximum allowable associations to return is set to 250 by default. If the current map extent contains more than this value, you can zoom in and refresh View Associations Mode. Alternatively, you can change the maximum value on the Associations tab of the Network Options dialog box.
To enable or disable the View Associations Mode, complete the following steps:
- Select a utility network layer in the Contents pane.
- On the ribbon, under Utility Network, click the Data tab.
- In the Associations group, click View
.
Associations options
To change the options used by View Associations Mode, click the dialog box launcher 
on the Utility Network Data tab, at the bottom right of the Associations group. This opens the Network Options dialog with the Associations tab active.
The following associations options are available:
- Maximum allowable associations returned—The default is 250.
- Include connectivity associations—This is enabled by default. Display connectivity associations with a dashed line when using View Associations Mode. The default color is a transparent gray-red. Use the color picker to change the color.
- Include structural attachment associations—This is enabled by default. Display structural attachment associations with a dashed line when using View Associations Mode. The default color is a transparent gray-green. Use the color picker to change the color.
- Show a bounding box for the associations in the view—This is disabled by default. A bounding box with a dashed line is created in the current map view extent when View Associations Mode is enabled. This represents the bounding box extent in which associations are displayed.
Note:
When viewing the associations options while View Associations Mode is active, the Include connectivity associations and Include structural attachment associations options are disabled when set to false. These options cannot be switched to true on the Associations tab until you turn off View Associations Mode.
Modify the visible property for containment association content
For containment associations, the content features include a visible property that is set. When used in conjunction with the Display Content command, the visible property controls whether the content is flagged as visible. By default, this visibility property is disabled. You can modify this property on a per-feature basis when creating or modifying containment associations using the Modify Associations pane.
Complete the following steps to modify the visibility property for content that participates in a containment association:
- On the ribbon, under Utility Network, click the Data tab.
- In the Associations group, click Modify
to open the Modify Associations pane. - Select the container feature with content you want to make visible.
- Click the Add Features tool and click a container feature on the map to populate the Active Item in the pane.
For junction or edge objects, use the Load Selected tool to populate the Active Item in the Modify Associations pane with the selected row of the container object.
Once you have selected the container feature, it appears in the Modify Associations pane as the Active Item.
- Click the Add Features tool and click a container feature on the map to populate the Active Item in the pane.
- Select the Containment tab to display the Contains and Contained In sections.
- Expand the Contains section and set the Visible check box for the content feature based on the following choices:
- Checked—Show content in the map view.
- Unchecked—Hide content in the map view.
- Click Apply.
The specified content visibility appears in the AssociationStatus field. This can be used in display filters to control content visibility on the map. If you hid content on the map, you can turn on visibility using the Display Content command or access content using containment edit mode.
Show or hide containment association content
You can enable or disable a display filter for all utility network layers to enable visibility of containment association content on your map using the Display Content command. This command is dependent on a display filter named DisplayContent for layers in the map view, and the Visible option set for content features.
To temporarily switch the visibility of content on a map, complete the following steps:
- On the ribbon, under Utility Network, click the Data tab.
- In the Associations group, click the Display Content command to display the drop-down arrow and choose one of the following options:
- Show—Disable display filters for all utility network layers to show all content.
- Hide—Enable display filters for all utility network layers to hide nonvisible content.
Content features are shown or hidden in the map view. Use the Display Content drop-down arrow to switch between the Show and Hide options.
Configure display filters using the association status attribute
A display filter can be used to control the display of containment association content features. This allows you to show and hide content features in the map view using the Display Content command. Properly configured display filters are necessary to change visibility for containment association content features using the Display Content command. If no display filter is set on the map for the utility network layers, containment association content features will display, regardless of the option chosen for the Display Content command and the visible property that is set.
ArcGIS utility network configurations include tools to help with the creation and configuration of a utility network (Utility Network Package Tools) and the process of publishing to your portal and deploying for use (the ArcGIS Solutions Deployment Tool). This process of deployment includes maps that are configured using a display filter on the association status attribute for all utility network layers.
When you configure your own maps, all of the utility network layers must have a display filter named DisplayContent configured on the AssociationStatus field to use the Display Content command.
To use the query builder and construct a display filter in SQL mode, complete the following steps:
- Right-click the layer in the Contents pane and click Symbology
to open the Symbology pane. - In the Symbology pane click Display filters
to activate the Display filters pane. - In the Display filters pane, click the Enable display filters toggle to enable display filters for the layer.
- Click the drop-down menu next to Set active display filter and set this to Manually.
- Click New display filter and rename the display filter to DisplayContent.
- Click the SQL toggle to construct a display filter and define which features to filter in the query builder with SQL code.
- In the query builder, use the following SQL query:
associationstatus NOT IN (4, 5, 6, 12, 13, 14, 36, 37, 38, 44, 45, 46)
- To construct a query interactively, complete the following steps:
- Field: Association status
- Operator: does not include the value(s)
- Values:
- 4—Content
- 5—Content and Container
- 6—Content and Structure
- 12—Attachment and Content
- 13—Attachment and Content and Container
- 14—Attachment and Content and Structure
- 36—Connectivity and Content
- 37—Connectivity and Content and Container
- 38—Connectivity and Content and Structure
- 44—Connectivity and Attachment and Content
- 45—Connectivity and Attachment and Content and Container
- 46—Connectivity and Attachment and Content and Structure
See Write a query in the query builder for specific details on the two modes for constructing a query.
Repeat the process for all utility network layers. After you have completed the process for all the layers, the Display Content command can be used to activate or deactivate the DisplayContent filter to show or hide content features in the map view.