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Defining the Custom Object

This task is a step in Process of Customizing Objects in Siebel CRM Desktop.

In this topic, to add a new object to Microsoft Outlook, you describe the structure of the object, create mapping between fields, lists, and so forth. You make these customizations in the siebel_basic_mapping.xml file.

To define the custom object

1. Use an XML editor to open the siebel_basic_mapping.xml file.

   For more information, see About Files in the Customization Package.

2. To define the name of the custom object, add the following example code to the siebel_basic_mapping.xml file:

   <type id="Action" display_name="#obj_activity_plural" folder_type="10">

   <form message_class="IPM.Contact.SBL.Activity" icon="type_image:Event:16" large_icon="type_image:Event:32" display_name="Activity">SBL Activity</form>

   </type>

   For more information, see Example Code for the SBL Activity Form.

3. Define a set of fields for the custom object. The following table describes the fields you define for this example.

   Field Label	Field Name	Field Type
   Description	Description	Text
   Type	Type	Picklist
   Priority	Priority	Picklist
   Owner	Primary Owner Id	Lookup
   Account	Account Id	Lookup
   Opportunity	Opportunity Id	Lookup
   Contacts	No field on this object	MVG
   Employee	No field on this object	MVG
   Planned Start	Planned	datetime
   Planned Completion	Planned Completion	datetime
   Due	Due	datetime
   Status	Status	Picklist
   Comments	Comment	Textarea

   For more information, see Fields That Siebel CRM Desktop Uses for the Custom Object. To examine the code you must add for this step, see XML Code That Defines a Set of Custom Fields on page 287.

4. Define intersection objects for many-to-many relationships.

   You do not define many-to-many relationships in Step 3. Because there is a many-to-many relationship between contacts and activities, and between employees and activities, you must define more objects that contain links to activity and contact, or activity and employee. The remaining description for a many-to-many relationship is the same as for other objects where you specify the object name and object fields. This object can also contain a field that indicates if this intersection record is a primary or not a primary.

   To examine the code you must add for this step, see XML Code That Defines a Many-To-Many Relationship.

5. Define the lists.

   For more information, see Defining the List. To examine the code you must add for this step, see XML Code That Defines a List.

Example Code for the SBL Activity Form

The example code defines SBL Activity as the form to display for this object. You define the form layout later. In this example, you add an Activity object to Microsoft Outlook. In Siebel CRM, this object is named Action. To add this object to Microsoft Outlook, you modify the siebel_basic_mapping.xml file. Note the following:

• You add the type tag to describe the new object.
• To define the folder name for the object in Microsoft Outlook, you can use the display_name attribute of the type tag.
• To define the native Microsoft Outlook object that is the base for the custom object folder type, you can use the folder_type attribute.

Fields That Siebel CRM Desktop Uses for the Custom Object

The siebel_basic_mapping.xml file describes each of the fields for the custom object. Note that Siebel CRM Desktop maps each field to a custom field, except for the following fields:

• Siebel CRM Desktop maps the Description field to the Last Name field, which is a native field in Microsoft Outlook.
• Siebel CRM Desktop maps the Comment field to the Body field because Siebel CRM Desktop does not support the textarea field. Therefore, Siebel CRM Desktop uses the native Microsoft Outlook control that displays the value for the Body field.

Defining the List

Because the custom object stores items that the user chooses in a list, you describe the list field in the same way as you describe a string field. You must describe the object that stores all list values. To store the values of the list, each list uses a separate object. You must build the IDs for these objects according to the following rules:

• Object name and field
• Name and list

You must make sure the Type list on the Activity object includes the ID of the ActionTypePicklist object. To define a list object, you must define the following set of standard fields:

• Label
• Value (string)
• SortOrder (integer)
• IsDefault (bool)