Release 10.1A: OpenEdge Development:
Progress Dynamics Basic Development

Progress Dynamics SmartDataObject

The SmartDataObject or SDO is at the heart of Progress Dynamics data management. This is the object that presents data to other client objects, accepts updates, performs application-specific validation, and gets data back to the database. It is the one standard SmartObject that is AppServer-aware. That is, it knows how to run itself on an AppServer and manage the passing of records back and forth between client and AppServer.

This section presents an overview of the SDO in case you are not already familiar with it. Since the SDO has been modified and enhanced in various ways for Progress Dynamics, some material will be of interest even to those who have already worked with SmartObjects.

As of the first release of Progress Dynamics, the SDO was a static, or procedural object. Several Progress source files were generated for each SDO. The design was such, however, that it would be straightforward to migrate these static SDOs to become strictly dynamic, data-driven objects in this latest release. The only source procedure that has remained is the procedure where any custom logic goes. Keep this in mind as you read through this material.