Moving through the source-node hierarchy

Within the Select Source dialog box, 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 children of an expandable node. To limit which objects are displayed, you can use either of the following options from the context menu for a node name (see Figure 40):

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 45.

Figure 45. 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 children of the parent node for those whose names match the filter text. When it expands this parent node, it displays only those children whose names match this text.

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

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 clicking Apply parent's filter menu item from the node's context menu. If you used the Retrieve all items menu item, the parent's 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 the Search for items menu item, 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 available. 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 children of the parent node whose names match the search pattern. When it expands this parent node, it displays only those children whose names match this pattern.

Important:
When Business Object Wizard receives a search pattern, it searches for matching children 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 children. 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 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 a node name 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 disabled, 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.


Once 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. 2003, 2004