Using the Business Object Manager

You can use the Business Object Manager tool to create and maintain business objects in Progress Developer Studio for OpenEdge. The stored objects can be persisted internally and externally.

To create and manage a business object:

1. Open a Business Process, Web application, or a Common Resource project.

2. From the Tools menu, click Business Objects, opening the Business Object Manager dialog box, which displays the list of default business objects with category, "demo."

Note: To modify an existing business object, select it from the Business Object Manager dialog box, then click Edit to make the changes in the Edit Business Object dialog box.

3. To create a new business object, click New, opening the Create New Business Object dialog box.

4. Type the name of the business object in the Name box. Avoid upper-case and special characters in the name.

5. Select a category from the Category drop-down list. To define a category, click the ellipsis button next to the Category list, to open the New Category dialog box, where you can define a new category.

6. In the Data Source Reference box, enter the description of the datasource (if any) being referenced. In the Description box, enter a description of the business object. This information is optional and help users identify business objects.

7. To define attributes for the business object, click Add to open the New Attribute dialog box.

a. Define the attribute properties by entering relevant information in the appropriate field components.

Table 90 describes the field components.

Table 90. Defining Business Object Attributes
Property	Description
Name	The name of the attribute. Attribute name must not contain any special characters, and can have up to 64 characters. You need to precede any upper-case character with at least two lower-case characters.
Type	The type of attribute. Options include Character, Long, Double, BigDecimal, Logical, Timestamp, and any business object that you have previously defined. Note: Progress Developer Studio for OpenEdge does not support business objects with circular reference. For example, if a business object, "bo1" contains the business object, "bo2" as an attribute, then "bo2" cannot contain "bo1" as an attribute.
Size	The size of the attribute. You can modify the size only for String type.
Default value	Enter (or modify) the default value for the attribute, if required. The default values are 0 (for Long), 0.0 (for Double and BigDecimal), false (for logical), and current date (for TimeStamp). To change the current date for Timestamp, click the Open Time Chooser ( ) icon.
Primary Key	Select this checkbox to make this attribute the primary key. Only one attribute can be assigned as the primary key.
Read Only	Select this checkbox to make this attribute read-only.
Mandatory	Select this checkbox to make this attribute mandatory (or required).
Collection	If you select an existing business object as the attribute type and select the Collection checkbox, then you can retrieve multiple records from the selected business object. For example, if you create a attribute called Addresses and select a business object for "Employee Records," you can display the “Employee Records” attribute data.
Description	Description of the attribute. This is optional.

a. Click OK to add the attribute to the Attributes list in the Create New Business Object dialog box.

8. After you have added all the required attributes, click OK.

The new business object is added to the list in the Business Object Manager dialog box.

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