Salesforce Platform Developer Practice Exam

Which option best describes a master-detail relationship?

1. A strong relationship where detail records inherit security and ownership from the master record

2. A weak relationship with no dependence between the two records

3. A relationship that requires manual association by users

4. Only applicable to custom objects

The correct answer is: A strong relationship where detail records inherit security and ownership from the master record

A master-detail relationship is characterized by a strong association between two objects, where the detail or child records are closely tied to the master or parent record. This relationship allows the detail records to inherit important properties from the master record, which includes security settings and ownership. As a result, when a master record is shared with users, the detail records automatically inherit the same sharing settings. Additionally, if the master record is deleted, all related detail records are also automatically deleted, reinforcing the dependency of the detail records on the master record. This inheritance and strong coupling are what differentiates a master-detail relationship from other types of relationships, such as lookup relationships, where the dependency is not as strong and where the child records can exist independently of the parent. Understanding the nature of master-detail relationships is crucial for designing data models that require structured data integrity and hierarchical organization within Salesforce.