Moving through the source-node hierarchy

The Business Select Source dialog box in Business Object Wizard provides the following mechanisms for moving through the nodes of the source-node hierarchy:

Limiting display of child nodes

The ways to expand a source node given in step 8 describe how to display all child nodes of an expandable node. To limit which objects are displayed, you can use either of the following menu items when right-clicking a node name (see Figure 39):

Using a filter

The Apply Filter menu item allows you to specify a filter, which can limit which of the currently selected source nodes opens. When you click this menu item, Business Object Wizard displays the Apply filter to node dialog box, as shown in Figure 44.

Figure 44. Specifying a filter to limit results

In the filter text, you can use the asterisk (*) character as a wildcard (to represent zero or more matching characters). This wildcard character can appear in any position and in as many positions as required. For example, SAP*, *SAP, *SAP*, or *S*AP*.

When you click OK, Business Object Wizard searches the currently retrieved child nodes of the parent node for those whose names match the filter text. When it expands this parent node, it displays only those child nodes whose names match this text.

Important:
When Business Object Wizard receives a filter, it searches for matching child nodes of the parent node in the currently retrieved source node; that is, it does not search the data source for matching child nodes. To have Business Object Wizard search the data source, you can specify a search pattern. For more information, see Specifying a search pattern.

For example, in the sample Roman ODA, the Uulius node has four child nodes: Ares, Cronus, Atlas, and Metis. If you apply the filter in Figure 44 to the Uulius node ("A*"), Business Object Wizard displays this node as shown in Figure 45 when you expand the node.

Figure 45. Filtered node after expansion

If you specify a filter at the top of a node and then expand the node, you can apply the same filter to child objects by right-clicking on the node and clicking Apply parent's filter. If you click Retrieve all items menu item, the parent node filter is applied to all elements.

Specifying a search pattern

The Search for items menu item allows you to specify a search pattern, which can limit which source nodes Business Object Wizard selects from the data source. When you click Search for items, Business Object Wizard displays the Enter a Search Pattern dialog box. Figure 46 illustrates this dialog box.

Note:
An ODA must support the search-pattern feature for the Search for items menu item to be enabled. If this menu item is not available, the ODA does not support search patterns.

Figure 46. Specifying a search pattern to limit retrieval results

The Enter a Search Pattern dialog box provides a description of the search criteria that your search pattern can use. In Figure 46, the text in this dialog box specifies that the search pattern can consist of one letter. The ODA provides a customized description of the search criteria. Make sure that the search pattern you enter follows the described search criteria. Otherwise, the ODA throws an exception.

When you click OK, Business Object Wizard searches the data source for child nodes of the parent node whose names match the search pattern. When it expands this parent node, it displays only those child nodes whose names match this pattern.

Important:
When Business Object Wizard receives a search pattern, it searches for matching child nodes of the parent node in the data source; that is, it retrieves a new tree node from the data source. It does not simply search the currently retrieved tree node for matching child nodes. To have Business Object Wizard search the currently retrieved tree node, you can specify a filter. For more information, see Using a filter.

Specifying an object path

Instead of moving through the source-node hierarchy, you can specify an exact path for the desired object. To do so, click Use this object instead, at the upper right of the Select Source dialog box. Business Object Wizard displays the Object Path dialog box, shown in Figure 47, in which you specify the path.

Figure 47. Specifying an object's path.

You specify the object path as the fully qualified path of the source node (from the top-level parent node down to the desired node). Node names within this path are separated with a colon (:).

Associating an operating-system file

To associate an operating-system file with the current node of the source-node hierarchy, right-click on a node and click Associate files (see Figure 48). When you associate a file with a source node, the ODA uses the file as the source for that source node's data (instead of using the ODA's data source).

Note:
An ODA must support the associate-files feature for the Associate files menu item to be enabled. If this menu item is not available, the ODA does not support associating files with the current source node.

Figure 48. Associating a file with a source node

When you click the Associate files menu item, Business Object Wizard displays the Open window shown in Figure 49. From this window, you can browse the file structure and choose the file to associate with the current node.

Figure 49. Open window for selecting the file to associate

After you have selected the file to associate with the source node, click Open. When Business Object Wizard returns control to the Select Source dialog box, the file you selected is displayed under the source node with which it is associated, as Figure 50 shows.

Figure 50. File associated with a source node


Copyright IBM Corp. 1997, 2004