Understanding the Common Attribute API

The Common Attribute Application Programming Interface (API) is intended to simplify the access and manipulation of attributes through PeopleCode. If attributes need to be accessed and manipulated in a different way compared to the delivered generic subpages, the framework provides some utility methods and classes that have a simple interface for manipulating attribute data.

The API supports retrieving attributes based on record context definitions. An attribute object received through this API can then be used to set the data, validate, format, get list of values, and save to backend. The CAF API is internally used by the delivered generic subpages and subrecord.

The API is contained in the application package: SCC_COMMON_ATTRIBUTE_FW. The SCC_COMMON_ATTRIBUTE_FW:AttributeManager application class provides a set of utility methods that can be used to fetch relevant attributes. This class behaves as a sort of object factory that provides attribute objects.

Attribute objects are instances of the SCC_COMMON_ATTRIBUTE_FW:Attribute class. This class encapsulates all the basic properties and behaviors of an attribute. It is possible to manipulate an attribute using its various methods. For the complete list of available methods in this class, see Common Attribute Framework Application Class Reference.

The following diagram shows the application packages and classes in the Common Attribute Framework API:

This example illustrates the fields and controls on the Common Attribute Framework API. You can find definitions for the fields and controls later on this page.