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. This information includes:

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

The following sections discuss this functionality in more detail.

Application-specific information for the top-level business object's verb

The verb of the top-level business object specifies the class for the vDynRetBOH business object handler. This application-specific information should always be the following:

sap.bapimodule.vDynRetBOH
 

Application-Specific information for simple attributes

The application-specific information for attributes specifies the following information:

The application-specific information format consists of four name-value parameters, each of which includes the parameter name and its value. Each parameter set is delimited from the next by a colon (:).

The format of attribute application-specific information is shown below. Square brackets ([ ]) surround an optional parameter. A vertical bar (|) separates the members of a set of options. Reserve the colon as a delimiter.

TN=TableName:CN=ColumnName:[FK=[..]fk_attributeName]:[OP=GT|GE|EQ|NE|LE|LT|LIKE]
 

Table 46 describes each name-value parameter.

Table 46. Name-value parameters in attribute application-specific information
Parameter Description
TN=TableName The name of the database table
CN=ColumnName The name of the database table column (field)
FK=[..]fk_attribute Name The value of this property depends on whether the foreign-key relationship is stored in the parent business object or the current business object:

If an attribute is not a foreign key, do not include this parameter in the application-specific information.

OP=GT|GE|EQ|NE|LE|LT| LIKE The operand options are:
  • GT--Greater Than
  • GE--Greater than or Equal to
  • EQ--EQual to (default option)
  • NE--Not Equal to
  • LE--Less than or Equal to
  • LT--Less Than
  • LIKE--Like

It is recommended that you specify EQ to maximize performance. If no operand is specified, the connector uses EQ.

The required parameters for each simple attribute are the table name and column name. The operand defaults to EQ (equals). The following example illustrates the basic format:

TN=KNA1:CN=KUNNR
 

Important:
Case is significant when specifying values for these parameters.

It is permissible for simple attributes within a business object to have no value specified (that is, zero length) for application-specific information fields. The connector ignores such attributes. This is a convenient way to ensure that the connector does not process placeholder attributes used to separate adjacent arrays of child business objects.

If none of the application-specific information in any of a business object's attributes provide sufficient information for the connector to build or execute a query, the connector returns a failure.

Example: Current business object stores the foreign key

Figure 34 provides an example of a WebSphere business object with two foreign keys that reference attributes within the business object. In this case, the business object represents data in two tables, one containing address data and the other containing lookup data for state/province and country abbreviations. To process this data, the connector performs two table reads.

Figure 34. Example: current business object stores the foreign key


Attribute information

Table 47 documents the table name, column name, key, and foreign-key for each attribute in the example SAP_Address:

Table 47. Description of example business object attributes
Attribute Table name Column name Key Foreign key Default
address_id ADRC ADDRNUMBER true

city ADRC CITY1 false

state ADRC REGION false

country ADRC LAND1 false

language T005U SPRAS true
E
fk_country T005U LAND1 false FK=country
fk_state T005U BLAND false FK=state
state_description T005U BEZEI false

Attribute application-specific information

Given the information in Table 47, the application-specific information for the fk_state attribute is:

TN=T005U:CN=BLAND:FK=state
 

The application-specific information for the fk_country attribute is:

TN=T005U:CN=LAND1:FK=country
 

SQL Queries

The following SELECT statements illustrate the WHERE clause that the connector builds to retrieve data from the tables represented by SAP_Address:

SELECT * FROM ADRC WHERE ADDRNUMBER = address_idValue
 SELECT * FROM T005U WHERE SPRAS = 'E' AND LAND1 = countryValue AND
 BLAND = stateValue
 

Copyright IBM Corp. 2003, 2004