# Is the new join datatype available in 6 alpha yet?
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/is-the-new-join-datatype-available-in-6-alpha-yet/95118
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [July 31, 2017, 5:22am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/is-the-new-join-datatype-available-in-6-alpha-yet/95118 "2017-07-31T05:22:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@davidbkemp](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/davidbkemp)
#### Post date: [July 31, 2017, 5:22am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/is-the-new-join-datatype-available-in-6-alpha-yet/95118/1 "2017-07-31T05:22:08Z")
I want to test out what changes we will need to make in version 6 when parent/child relationships are to be replaced with the new "join" data type. I downloaded _ **elasticsearch-6.0.0-alpha2** _ and tried the example in the documentation: [https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/6.0/parent-join.html](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/6.0/parent-join.html)
But I get the following error message:
```
Failed to parse mapping [doc]: [relations] expected string but was:LinkedHashMap
```
Anyone had any success with the new "join" data type, or is it not ready to use yet?
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2017, 5:22am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/is-the-new-join-datatype-available-in-6-alpha-yet/95118/2 "2017-08-28T05:22:45Z")
This topic was automatically closed 28 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.