To extend both these capabilities in the latest major release, OpenEdge 10 includes a major new object called the Progress DataSet (commonly referred to as a ProDataSet). The ProDataSet:
Extends your ability to define complex business objects with many levels of related data.
Lets you define the relationships between those levels of data.
Lets you associate each level with a distinct data source when you need to fill the ProDataSet with data or pass updates back to the database.
Allows you to define a mapping between the database tables that are the source of your data and its representation within the ProDataSet. The internal view of the data can be significantly different from how it is physically stored.
Defines hooks that let you associate your own custom procedures with many events in the life cycle of a ProDataSet.
Logs changes to ProDataSet records so that you can pass the ProDataSet to a separate procedure to write those changes back to the database.
Allows you to pass the ProDataSet as a single parameter with a single handle from one procedure to another, within a single ABL session or between sessions.
Extends your ability to define complex business objects with many levels of related data.