Developing and Deploying Siebel Business Applications > Configuring Siebel CRM to Use Data From an External Data Source > Process of Configuring Siebel CRM to Use Data From an External Data Source >

Creating a Virtual Business Component

This task is a step in Process of Configuring Siebel CRM to Use Data From an External Data Source.

If you create a virtual business component you do not use the Business Component Wizard for the following reasons:

• The wizard forces you to choose a table that the business component references.
• The wizard does not set the class to CSSBCVExtern.

To create a virtual business component

1. In Siebel Tools, make sure the Business Component User Prop object type is displayed.

   For more information, see Setting Up Siebel Tools.

2. Define the business component:
   1. In the Object Explorer, click Business Component.
   2. In the Business Components list, right-click and then choose the New Record menu item.
   3. Create a new record using values from the following table.

      Property	Value
      Name	NREC Renovations VBC
      Project	NREC Configuration
      Class	CSSBCVExtern

3. Add fields to the business component:
   1. In the Object Explorer, expand the Business Components tree, and then click Single Value Field.
   2. In the Single Value Fields list, create a new record for each row in the following table.

      Name	Type	Comments
      Date	DTYPE_TEXT	Date the renovation was recorded.
      Description	DTYPE_TEXT	Description of the renovation.
      House_ID	DTYPE_TEXT	House Identification Number.

4. Define user properties for the business component:
   1. In the Object Explorer, in the Business Component tree, click Business Component User Prop.
   2. Add a new business component user property for each row in the following table.

      Name	Value
      Service Name	NREC Text File Handler
      Service Parameters	D:\NREC\nrec.txt;3;House_ID,Date,Description For more information, see Service Parameters.

Service Parameters

The service parameters define the parameters that Siebel CRM sends to the business service during initialization. The script for the NREC example uses the following format:

path;num_columns;column_names

where:

• path is the full path to the file name including the file name
• num_columns is number of columns listed in the column_names parameter
• column_names is a list of column names. You must use a comma to separate each column name.

Note the following format requirements:

• You must use a semicolon to separate each parameter.
• You must not include a space in a comma-delimited string.

Service parameters vary depending on the business service you use. In this example, you define the parameters in the script for the business service.