Metadata-driven data handler design

IBM-delivered data handlers are metadata-driven. Metadata is data about the business object that is stored in business object definitions. Metadata in a business object definition provides information describing the data in an instance of the business object. In general, business object metadata includes the structure of the business object, the settings of its attribute properties, and the content of its application-specific information. It also provides instructions on how to process the data.

Connectors are typically designed to use business object metadata when processing business objects. Similarly, data handlers are designed to use business object metadata. For example:

A metadata-driven data handler handles each business object that it supports based on metadata encoded in the business object definition rather than on information hard-coded in the data handler. Therefore, a data handler can handle new or modified business objects without requiring modifications to the data handler code.

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