Business object application-specific information

Application-specific information in business object definitions provides the connector with application-dependent instructions on how to process business objects. The connector parses the application-specific information from the attributes or verb of a business object or from the business object itself to generate queries for create, update, retrieve, and delete operations.

The connector stores some of the business object's application-specific information in cache and uses this information to build queries for all the verbs.

If you extend or modify an application-specific business object, you must make sure that the application-specific information in the business object definition matches the syntax that the connector expects.

This section provides information on the object-level, attribute, and verb application-specific information format for business objects supported by the connector.

Table 7 provides an overview of the functionality available in business object application-specific information.

Table 7. Overview of application-specific information in supported business objects
Scope of application-specific information Functionality
Entire business object Specifies:
  • The name of the corresponding database table.
  • Defines the column whose value the connector uses in the WHERE clause to perform a logical (or soft) delete.
  • That the top-level business object is a wrapper.
Simple attributes Specifies:
  • The database column name for an attribute.
  • The foreign key relationship between an attribute in the current business object and a parent or child business object.
  • Automatic generation of unique identifier values.
  • The name of another attribute within the same business object whose value the connector must use to set the value of the current attribute.
  • Whether to use the current attribute when sorting a retrieval.
  • The value to use when the value of the current attribute is null.
  • String substitution behavior.
  • Whether to use the LIKE operator or = operator when comparing strings.
  • The value to use as the wildcard position when the LIKE operator is used.
Attributes that contain a child or an array of child business objects Specifies whether a single-cardinality child is owned by the parent. Specifies whether the connector deletes child data during an update operation if the data is not represented in the source business object.
Business object verb Used only for the Retrieve verb, this text specifies the attributes to be included in the WHERE clause for a retrieval. You can also specify operators and attribute values.

The following sections discuss this functionality in more detail.

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