When you run Business Object Designer Express from System Manager, you have access to additional, more sophisticated, functionality for developing and managing business object definitions. In System Manager, business object definitions, along with other business integration components such as collaborations and maps, are stored in Integration Component Libraries (ICLs). ICLs are repositories of business integration components, which you can use as building blocks to construct business integration solutions. Each ICL contains a collection of folders, one for each type of integration component, as shown in Figure 21.
Figure 21. Integration Component Libraries in System Manager.
The methodology for developing and deploying business object definitions is as follows. You develop a business object definition in Business Object Designer Express and save it to the business objects folder in an ICL. When you want to use that business object definition in a business integration solution, you associate the definition with one or more user projects. Each user project includes all the business integration components needed to implement a particular business integration solution. For example, in a user project that contains the components needed for the implementation of the e-Mail adapter, the business objects folder contains all the business object definitions needed by that adapter.
Like an ICL, each user project contains a collection of business integration component folders. However, a user project contains only virtual copies of ICL components. When you change a business object definition, you modify the instance in the ICL. The changes you make are automatically propagated to every user project that includes the business object definition. In other words, if a particular business object definition is included in two user projects, and a change is made to that definition in the Integration Component Library, the change is automatically reflected in the virtual copies residing in the user projects. This linkage between business object definitions in an ICL and their virtual copies in the user projects allows you to modify and maintain business object definitions in one central location while deploying them in multiple business integration solutions.
For more information about developing business integration components using Integration Component Libraries, see the implementation guide for your system.
When you are running Business Object Designer Express from System Manager, it uses as "the project" the Integration Component Library you have selected. Listed below is a high-level summary of how Business Object Designer Express functions operate on an ICL-based project. More detailed information about performing these tasks is provided in the topics starting with Starting Business Object Designer Express.
When you run Business Object Designer Express without System Manager, you do not have access to the Integration Component Libraries. In this environment, Business Object Designer Express uses a local project as described in If Business Object Designer Express is running without System Manager.