## Overview

If available, this widget displays references associated with other cplace pages. The Incoming References widget provides a "backlinks" view showing where the current entity is referenced in the data model through structured reference attributes. It queries the database to identify all custom reference relationships pointing to the entity and presents them grouped by source type, attribute name, and workspace. The widget distinguishes between references with actual values (entities currently referencing this one) and available reference types without values (configured but unused references).

## Use Cases

- **Dependency Discovery**: Understand what depends on an entity before making changes or deletions (e.g., view a Product entity and see which Projects reference it)
- **Impact Analysis**: Review incoming references before performing destructive operations to prevent broken references and data inconsistencies
- **Bidirectional Relationship Navigation**: Navigate from a referenced entity back to referring entities without manual searching
- **Data Model Analysis**: Visualize actual usage of reference attributes in the system and understand relationship patterns
- **Cross-Space Visibility**: Identify and understand cross-workspace dependencies when entities in one workspace are referenced by entities in other workspaces

## Design Considerations

### When to Use This Widget

Use this widget when:
- Your data model includes formal reference attributes between entity types
- You need to track which entities reference a particular entity
- You want to provide users with impact analysis capabilities
- You need bidirectional relationship navigation
- Your content model has complex interdependencies

Do NOT use this widget when:
- You only need to display outgoing references (use attribute widgets instead)
- You want to track wiki-style hyperlinks in rich text (use `cf.platform.incomingLinks` instead)
- The entity type is Person (use the dedicated "myElements" widget instead)

### Display Organization

The widget automatically organizes references into two sections:
- **With Values** (expanded by default): Shows reference types that have at least one referring entity
- **Without Values** (collapsed by default): Shows configured reference types with zero referring entities, useful for discovering potential relationship opportunities

### Typical Layout Patterns

**Basic Relationship Discovery**: Place the widget after core attributes to show who references the current entity.

**Complete Relationship View**: Combine with `cf.platform.incomingLinks` to show both formal data model relationships and informal wiki-style links.

**Impact Analysis Dashboard**: Pair with embedded search widgets and connected charts to visualize relationship patterns.

## Related Patterns

- `cf.platform.incomingLinks` - For tracking informal rich text hyperlinks rather than formal reference attributes. Use both widgets together for complete relationship visibility.
- `cf.platform.singleAttribute` / `cf.platform.connectedSingleAttribute` - For displaying outgoing reference attributes (what this entity references)
- `cf.platform.embeddedSearchAsList` / `cf.platform.embeddedSearchAsTable` - For displaying filtered entity lists based on relationships
- `cf.platform.connectedMatrix` - For visualizing two-dimensional relationships between entity types