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Object Types and Parent-Child Relationships
An object type is a named structure from which object definitions of that type can be created. For example, the Account, Opportunity and Contact business components are implemented as object definitions of the Business Component object type. Conceptually, object types are the templates from which object definitions are created. An object type can be thought of as the cookie cutter that is used to make many cookies of a particular shape.
An object type has a predefined set of properties. Object definitions created from it have values for each of these properties (the values are either default or user-specified). For descriptions of all properties for all object types (other than Siebel-use only object types), see Siebel Object Interfaces Reference.
Object types are displayed in the Object Explorer window, which operates in parallel with the Object List Editor window. Selecting a different object type in the Object Explorer causes an Object List Editor window to display object definitions for that object type. The title bar of the Object List Editor window identifies the kind (object type) of object definitions it contains. Every object definition has exactly one object type. When a new object definition is created in the Object List Editor, the object type of the active Object List Editor window determines the new object definition's object type.
You can change the property values in an object definition, but you cannot change the set of properties to which the values are assigned. The set of properties is fixed for each object type.
There is a predefined set of object types in Siebel Tools that have specific purposes. For example, two object types are Applet and Business Component. An applet object definition defines a user interface unit such as a data entry form or editable list of records. A business component object definition defines a data record structure from one or more database tables.
Object types have hierarchical relationships called parent-child relationships. These can be seen when you expand an object type that has children in the Object Explorer (and when the Object Explorer is in Types view). The Object Explorer in Types view uses the same visual metaphor for displaying hierarchical relationships as the Windows Explorer in Windows 2000 or NT. An object type (folder) beneath and slightly to the right of another is the child object type of the one it is below, the latter of which is the child's parent object type.
An object type can have multiple child object types. For example, if you expand Applet in the Object Explorer, you see various child object types, including Applet Method Menu Item, Applet Browser Script, Applet Server Script, Applet Toggle, and so on. Object definitions, like object types, have parent-child relationships. These relationships are based on their object types. That is, the object type of the parent object definition determines the object types of the child object definitions. Parent-child relationships between object definitions are displayed in Siebel Tools with two Object List Editor windows open simultaneously.
Figure 1 shows the Siebel Tools window displaying business component object definitions in the upper list applet, and field object definitions in the lower list applet for the currently selected business component.
Parent-child relationships between object definitions imply containership. That is, the child object definition is in, or belongs to the parent object definition. For example, columns are in a table, fields are in a business component, joins are also in a business component, and controls are in an applet. There is no inheritance among object definitions, and the set of properties of an object definition is unrelated to the set of properties of a child object definition.
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Siebel Tools Reference, Version 7.5, Rev. A Published: 18 April 2003 |
