Converting NameValue data to business objects

This section provides the following information on how the NameValue data handler converts strings or streams formatted in name-value pairs to a business object:

NameValue string requirements

The NameValue data handler makes the following assumptions about serialized data:

A token representing the attribute count is optional. If the child meta-object attribute ValidateAttrCount is true, the data handler looks for a token that contains a count of the attributes in the business object. If the attribute count is specified, it must accurately reflect the number of attributes in the business object definition.

When the NameValue data handler reads a file in name-value format, it takes the following special processing steps to assign to a business object attribute the CxIgnore or CxBlank attribute value:

Figure 34 shows an example of serialized data in NameValue format.

Figure 34. Example of NameValue data

BusinessObject=Customer
     Verb=Update 
             AttributeCount=7
             CustomerID=103
             CustomerName=Thai Inc.
             Cust_Phone_Number=CxIgnore
             ProductName=GoodProduct 
             Address=2 
               BusinessObject=Address
                 Verb=Update
                 AttributeCount=3
                 AddressID=105
                 AddressLine=CxIgnore
                 ObjectEventID=12345
               BusinessObject=Address
                 Verb=Delete
                 AttributeCount=3
                 AddressID=106
                 AddressLine=2758 Forest Avenue
                 ObjectEventID=CxIgnore 
             Item=1
               BusinessObject=Item
                 Verb=Update    
                 ItemID=107
                 ItemName=CxIgnore
                 ObjectEventID=Obj_201
             ObjectEventID=SampleConnector_894927711_2
   

In this example, entries indicate the following:

Serialized-data processing

The NameValue data handler converts strings or streams formatted in name-value pairs to a business object as follows:

  1. The data handler creates a business object to contain the data in the string or stream.
  2. The data handler sets the verb in the business object. The data handler assumes that the verb for the top-level business object is in the second name-value pair in the data. Note that child business objects may not have verbs set.
  3. If the ValidateAttrCount child meta-object attribute is set to true, the data handler validates that the number of attributes in the file matches the number of attributes in the business object definition.
  4. The data handler parses the serialized data.

You can specify the attributes in the serialized data in any order for the string-to-business object conversion because the data handler does a name and value association.

Copyright IBM Corp. 1997, 2003