Is there a constraint on how often a subdocuemtn can be included within a main document?

[mrump]

While working with the document view of RV&S (13.1-CPS 2) our users noticed an undocumented limitation.

It s possible to have one (sub)document inserted several times within one main document.

 Something like this.

main doc

1. Heading1
   1. inserted Doc A
2. Heading2
   1. interted Doc B
3. Heading3
   1. inserted Doc A

Apart from the discussion whether this makes sense, it is possible as long as the subdocuments are INSERTED.

If you select all subdocument node and toogleInsertInclude, you would expect something like this

main doc

1. Heading1
   1. included Doc A
2. Heading2
   1. included Doc B
3. Heading3
   1. included Doc A

BUT, what you will get is

main doc

1. Heading1
   1. included Doc A
2. Heading2
   1. included Doc B
3. Heading3
   1. inserted Doc A
      

It is not possible to change the section 3.1. to include mode.
- no error message

- no warning

the Action is simply ignored.

I understand the problem for the GUI, as it would lead to identical item IDs shown several times in the same view and potentially causing race conditions. 

But this limitation seems nowhere documented.
So is it a BUG or a feature ?

[mrump · Accepted solution]

Here's the response from PTC support (so obviously it's by design)

"You can include or insert multiple subdocuments. You can even include multiple subdocuments of the same document within a document. However, only the first subdocument for this document ID shows as included. Subsequent inclusions show as if they are inserted. This means that the first instance is the only one that displays children.
The cyclical relationship icon displays subsequent inclusions of the same document within a document.

This behavior for multiple inclusions of the same document is merely visual.

Any export or report of the content still expands the content."