Tying Page Elements to Data : Relative or Absolute References

Relative or Absolute References
Items on the Page inherit the message reference of their parent items. For example, if a group element has a message reference to a particular Message Part in the Page Message, then all the Page elements within that group can share that reference by using a relative reference.
When you set the Message Ref property, the Message Ref picker displays available message parts relative to the root Page Message and also relative to the parent element, if any.
The relative path is indicated by a period (.) and the absolute path is indicated by a backslash (/). If a relative path is available for the Page element, then the relation to the root path is displayed at the top of the picker.
In general, if you’re working with a group of Page elements that reference columns in the same table, you should reference the table itself in the group enclosing the Page elements and then use relative paths to reference each item within the group. That way, if you need to change the group reference, you do not have to change the Message Ref for each Page element individually.
The only place where you are absolutely required to use a relative path in your Message Ref is when you are using a Group layout to display a list. For example, when you are creating a grid that displays multiple rows of data for a table column or group of columns, each item in the grid needs a Message Ref relative to the Message Ref of the grid itself.
Related Topics:
Page Message
Message Refs
Displaying Lists
Identifying a Single Object in a List of Objects

ActiveGrid
ActiveGrid Documentation
Version 2.0