Working with business objects

This chapter describes how the adapter processes business objects and describes the assumptions the connector makes. You can use this information as a guide to implementing new business objects.

This chapter also describes how the adapter processes business objects and describes the assumptions the connector makes. You can use this information as a guide to implementing new business objects. Topics in this chapter include:

The adapter comes with sample business objects only. The systems integrator, consultant, or customer must build your specific business objects.

The sample business objects are contained under the /samples directory in your delivered adapter package. To get the most recent versions of the sample business objects, visit the support site at http://www.ibm.com/software/integration/cw/collaborations/support/ and click the Collaborations link.

The adapter is meta-data-driven. In this context, meta-data is data about the application, which is stored in a business object definition and which helps the adapter interact with an application. A meta-data-driven connector handles each business object that it supports based on meta-data encoded in the business object definition rather than on instructions hard-coded in the connector.

Business object meta-data includes the structure of a business object, the settings of its attribute properties, and the content of its application-specific text. Because the connector is meta-data-driven, it can handle new or modified business objects without requiring modifications to the adapter code. However, the adapter's configured data handler makes assumptions about the structure of its business objects, object cardinality, the format of the application-specific text, and the database representation of the business object. Therefore, when you create or modify a business object for the adapter, your modifications must conform to the rules the adapter is designed to follow, or it cannot process new or modified business objects correctly.

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