The adapter for Exchange Server supports business objects based on the Exchange Outlook Message object model. The supported business objects include the following high level objects:
In addition, there are two objects that represent common attribute data:
Note that the current release of the adapter does not support the Attachment business object.
If the Exchange Item has no children, a single adapter business object represents the entire Exchange business entity. For example, an appointment without a recurrence pattern is represented by the AppointmentItem business object.
If the Exchange Item has a hierarchical structure, then the adapter business object represents the parent business entity and its attributes reference child objects that carry any child information. For example, a recurring appointment would be represented by the parent AppointmentItem business object with an attribute that points to a RecurrencePattern child business object.
The process of defining business object attributes includes setting a range
of properties. Table 9 shows the properties for simple attributes.
Table 9. Properties for simple attributes
Attribute | Description |
---|---|
Name | Specifies the name of the attribute |
Type | Specifies the data type of the attribute (Boolean, Date, Integer, or String) |
MaxLength | N/A |
IsKey | Specifies whether the attribute is a key field |
IsForeignKey | N/A |
IsRequired | Specifies whether the attribute is a required field in the business object |
AppSpecificInfo | Specifies the URI used to access this attribute. |
DefaultValue | If specified, this value is used by the connector if one is not set in the inbound business object, and if the connector's UseDefaults property is set to true. |
Table 10 shows the properties for parent business object attributes
that reference child objects.
Table 10. Properties for attributes that reference child business objects
Attribute | Description |
---|---|
Name | Specifies the name of the child business object |
Type | Specifies the data type of the child business object. The
following data types are valid:
|
ContainedObjectVersion | Specifies the version of the child business object. |
Relationship | Specifies that the referenced object is contained in the parent object. |
IsKey | N/A |
IsForeignKey | N/A |
IsRequired | Specifies whether the attribute is required for the business object. |
AppSpecificInfo | N/A |
Cardinality | Specifies the number of child objects that can be referenced by a particular attribute. The value can be 1 (if only one object can be referenced) or N (if multiple objects can be referenced). |
Application-specific information provides the connector with application-dependent information for manipulating and processing business objects. If you extend or modify a business object definition, you must make sure that the application-specific information in the definition matches the syntax that the connector expects.
Application-specific information can be specified for the business object and also for each business object attribute.
The application-specific information for the business object handles two
key properties for the adapter: the OutlookMessageClass
and the ContentClass
. The OutlookMessageClass specifies the name of the Exchange item that
corresponds to the current Exchange Adapter business object. The
ContentClass specifies the webDAV namespace that corresponds to the current
Exchange Adapter business object. The following table provides the
appropriate correlations:
Table 11. Application-specific text for business objects
Adapter Business
Ob ject | OutlookMessageClass | ContentClass |
---|---|---|
AppointmentItem | IPM:Appointment | urn:content-classes:appointment |
ContactItem | IPM:Contact | urn:content-classes:person |
MailItem | IPM:Note | urn:content-classes:message |
TaskItem | IPM:Task | urn:content-classes:task |
The connector uses application-specific text for simple attributes, as
described in Table 12
Table 12. Application-specific text for simple attributes
Parameter | Description |
---|---|
PropertyName | Specifies the URI corresponding to this attribute. |
Access | Specifies whether the current attribute is read/write (Get/Put) or read-only (Get). |
The connector uses application-specific text for verbs, as described in Table 13:
Table 13. Application-specific text for verbs
Parameter | Description |
---|---|
SetToNullOnCxIgnore | Determines the behavior when CxIgnore and CxBlank are encountered while processing a service call request. This value is either true or false. If true and CxIgnore or CxBlank is encountered, then the value is set to null. If false and CxIgnore is encountered, then the value is not changed. If false and CxBlank is encountered, then the value is set to null. |