Working with business object definitions

Business Object Designer Express provides a tabbed dialog box with two screens for creating and editing a definition:

When you first create or open a definition, the Attributes tab opens.

Figure 26 illustrates the environment for defining and editing attributes.

Figure 26. Defining and editing attributes


For information on using the General and Attributes tabs, see "Creating a business object definition".

Opening a business object definition and its contained child

Business Object Designer Express allows you to open separate windows to edit definitions for a parent business object definition and its contained child.

Figure 27 illustrates the separate windows for editing parent and child business objects.

Figure 27. Separate windows for parent and child business objects


Notice that the Address attribute in the Contact business object is collapsed in Figure 27. You can expand the attribute so that the Contact window displays all attributes of the Address business object, which enables you to edit the child directly from the parent. To prevent you from changing the same definition in two places, however, the tool automatically closes a child business object's window whenever you expand a child business object within its parent business object.

Figure 28 illustrates the tool after Contact's Address attribute has been expanded and the Address window has been closed.

Figure 28. Expanding a parent business object's attribute that represents the child business object


Copyright IBM Corp. 2004