WebSphere Business Integration Adapters: An Adapter Development and WebSphere Business Integration Solution

Chapter 2. Business objects 15

2.2.2 Generic business object

Generic business object (GBO) design is not actually part of adapter

development. However, you must consider it later if you are using the

InterChange Server for collaborations and mapping.

2.3 Business object design

Business objects can be either flat or hierarchical.

2.3.1 Flat business object

A flat business object contains one or more simple attributes and a list of

supported verbs. A simple attribute represents one value, such as a String or

Integer or Date. All simple attributes have single cardinality. In the case of an

application-specific business object, a flat business object can represent one

entity in an application or in a technology standard.

Use of flat business objects can simplify corresponding connector design in the

following ways:

 On a

Create operation, the connector might cycle through the attributes,

extracting the non-key attribute values from the business object instance and

extracting processing instructions from the business object definition. When it

has assembled the information it needs to process the business object, the

connector might start an application function call or SQL statement to create a

new row for the record in the table. The connector then returns a value for the

key to the business integration system.

 On a

Retrieve operation, the connector might extract the primary key from the

business object request, use the key value to retrieve the current set of data

for the row, and return a business object with the complete set of values.This

type of business object is straightforward in its design and in the connector

logic required to process it.

Typically, however, application entities are more complex and include

information that is stored in other objects.

16 WebSphere Business Integration Adapters

2.3.2 Hierarchical business object

Hierarchical business object definitions define the structure of multiple related

entities, encapsulating not only each individual entity but also aspects of the

relationship between entities. In addition to containing at least one simple

attribute, a hierarchical business object has one or more attributes that are

complex (that is, the attribute itself contains one or more business objects, called

child business objects). The business object that contains the complex attribute is

called the

parent business object.

There are two types of relationships between parent and child business objects:

Single cardinality When an attribute in a parent business object represents

a single child business object. The type of the attribute is

set to the name of the child business object, and the

cardinality is set to one.

Multiple cardinality When an attribute in the parent business object

represents an array of child business objects. The type of

the attribute is set to the name of the child business

object, and the cardinality is set to n.

In turn, each child business object can contain attributes that contain a child

business object, or an array of business objects, and so on. The business object

at the top of the hierarchy, which itself does not have a parent, is called the

top-level business object. Any single business object, independent of its child

business objects that it might contain (or that might contain it), is called an

individual business object.

2.3.3 Business object structure

The way a connector or data handler processes business objects is determined

in part by the structure of the business objects that it supports.

As you design the structure of an application-specific business object, you need

to determine what structure best represents a particular application entity and

how this structure affects the design of connector and data handler logic or how

the structure is processed by an existing connector or data handler. Although a

goal of connector and data handler design is to code a connector or data handler

so that it can handle new and changed business objects without modification, it is

difficult to create a connector or data handler that can handle any possible

business object.

Typically, a connector or data handler is designed to make assumptions about

the structure of its business objects, the relationships between parent and child

business objects, and the possible application representation of business