Siebel Product Administration Guide > Configuration Links >

Creating a Business Component Configuration Link

A business component link lets you extract information from Siebel business components and use it to write constraints.

To create a business component link you must know the business component name and field name containing the information you want to extract.

You must select and lock a customizable product before creating a link. When you create a link, it is automatically added to a picklist. You can then add the link to other customizable products by selecting it from the picklist.

When you create a link, it is added to a dialog box. You can copy this link definition to other customizable products and edit the link as needed. In turn, the edited link is added to the dialog box. When you remove a link from a customizable product, it is removed from the dialog box.

To create a business component link

1. Navigate to the Administration - Product screen.
2. Select and lock the desired customizable product or product class.
3. Navigate to the Links view for the Work Space version.
4. In the Link Definitions list, add a new record and complete the necessary fields, described in the following table.

   Field	Comments
   Name	Enter the name of the link. Use this name to refer to the link when you write constraints. This field is required.
   BusObj Name	Enter the business object in which the business component resides. This field is required for business component links.
   BusComp Name	Select the business component from which you want to extract information. This field is required for business component links.
   BusComp Field Name	Select the field in the business component that contains the data you want to extract. This field is required for business component links.
   Expression	Displays an XML expression that is automatically generated by your entries in the other fields.
   Needs Execution	Select this check box to retrieve the link information from a new instance of the business component. Deselect it to retrieve information about the current instance of the business component.
   Search Spec	Enter a Siebel query expression to narrow the search to one record. This field is evaluated only if you put a check mark in Needs Execution. An entry in this field is highly recommended.
   Sort Spec	Enter a sort specification so that the desired record appears first if more than one record is retrieved. This field is evaluated only if you put a check mark in Needs Execution. An entry in this field is highly recommended.
   Default Value	Enter the value that you want to assign to the link if the query returns no records. This field is highly recommended if you put a check mark in Needs Execution.
   Keyword	For business component links, leave this field blank. This field is used for context variable links. For more information, see Creating a Context Variable Link.
   Context Variable	For business component links, leave this field blank. This field is used for context variable links. For more information, see Creating a Context Variable Link.
   Context Variable Type	For business component links, leave this field blank. This field is used for context variable links. For more information, see Creating a Context Variable Link.
   Description	Enter a description of what the link does. This description is not displayed to customers.

   NOTE:  To use an already-existing definition, click in the Name field and select the desired link definition from the dialog box.