From 261928f0c41324ed789ccfcd83ca02cbc46b3745 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Veda Vyasa <2400040217@kluniversity.in>
Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2025 21:41:08 +0530
Subject: [PATCH] Add example demonstrating many-to-many relationship using
 association entity

---
 .../examples/many_to_many_relationship.py     | 112 ++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 112 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 docs/source/examples/many_to_many_relationship.py

diff --git a/docs/source/examples/many_to_many_relationship.py b/docs/source/examples/many_to_many_relationship.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0298451b88
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/source/examples/many_to_many_relationship.py
@@ -0,0 +1,112 @@
+"""
+Example: Representing a many-to-many relationship in Featuretools
+-----------------------------------------------------------------
+
+In this example, we model a university scenario where students can enroll
+in multiple courses, and each course can have multiple students.
+We handle this many-to-many relationship using an association (bridge) table
+called `enrollments` and show how to represent it in a Featuretools
+EntitySet by creating two one-to-many relationships that together model
+the many-to-many relationship.
+
+This example is intended to be added to the Featuretools docs/examples
+directory and is ready to run as-is.
+"""
+
+import pandas as pd
+import featuretools as ft
+
+
+# -----------------------------
+# 1) Create example dataframes
+# -----------------------------
+# Students dataframe: one row per student
+students_df = pd.DataFrame(
+    {
+        "student_id": [1, 2, 3],
+        "name": ["Alice", "Bob", "Charlie"],
+    }
+)
+
+# Courses dataframe: one row per course
+courses_df = pd.DataFrame(
+    {
+        "course_id": [101, 102],
+        "title": ["Math", "Science"],
+    }
+)
+
+# Enrollments association (bridge) table: one row per enrollment
+# This table contains foreign keys to both students and courses, and it is
+# what allows us to model a many-to-many relationship between students
+# and courses.
+enrollments_df = pd.DataFrame(
+    {
+        "enrollment_id": [1, 2, 3, 4],
+        "student_id": [1, 1, 2, 3],  # student 1 in two courses
+        "course_id": [101, 102, 101, 102],
+    }
+)
+
+
+# ---------------------------------
+# 2) Build the EntitySet and add data
+# ---------------------------------
+# Create an empty EntitySet for the university domain
+es = ft.EntitySet(id="university")
+
+# Add the students dataframe. Use `student_id` as the index for the
+# `students` dataframe.
+es = es.add_dataframe(
+    dataframe_name="students",
+    dataframe=students_df,
+    index="student_id",
+)
+
+# Add the courses dataframe. Use `course_id` as the index for the
+# `courses` dataframe.
+es = es.add_dataframe(
+    dataframe_name="courses",
+    dataframe=courses_df,
+    index="course_id",
+)
+
+# Add the enrollments dataframe (association/bridge table). Use
+# `enrollment_id` as the unique index for enrollments.
+es = es.add_dataframe(
+    dataframe_name="enrollments",
+    dataframe=enrollments_df,
+    index="enrollment_id",
+)
+
+
+# ----------------------------------------
+# 3) Define relationships to model many-to-many
+# ----------------------------------------
+# We create two one-to-many relationships:
+#  - students -> enrollments (a student can have many enrollments)
+#  - courses  -> enrollments (a course can have many enrollments)
+# Together, these relationships represent a many-to-many relationship
+# between students and courses via the enrollments association table.
+
+relationships = [
+    # (parent_df, parent_index, child_df, child_foreign_key)
+    ("students", "student_id", "enrollments", "student_id"),
+    ("courses", "course_id", "enrollments", "course_id"),
+]
+
+# Add relationships to the EntitySet
+es = es.add_relationships(relationships)
+
+
+# ---------------------------------
+# 4) Inspect and print the EntitySet
+# ---------------------------------
+# Print the EntitySet structure so readers can see the entities and
+# relationships that model the many-to-many connection.
+print(es)
+
+# For extra clarity, show the individual dataframes (optional)
+print("\nStudents:\n", es["students"].head())
+print("\nCourses:\n", es["courses"].head())
+print("\nEnrollments:\n", es["enrollments"].head())