About Managing Data

Most business applications require users to create and manipulate data. In a travel request application, for example, a user enters data related to the request which includes information about the employee, to and from destinations, and other types of data. Additionally, an application may have to create and manipulate other data that is only used internally as part of the overall function of the application.

When creating business processes you must define the data that the Process application uses. Data is stored within a data object. Data objects are defined based on complex data types.

In Process, business types consist of data definitions referred to as business objects and business exceptions. A business object is a complex data type that groups together related data. For example, if you’re creating an application that requires information about an employee, you may want to create a business object that stores the name, address, salary, and other information about the employee. Business objects are similar to the concept of classes used in object-oriented programming languages like Java. Create business objects from scratch using the Business Object Editor or automatically by importing an XSD. Business objects are also auto-generated when designing forms using the form-first design methodology and when importing services into an application. In these situations, business objects are referenced by forms and services and can only be deleted if the artifacts referring them are deleted. Business objects can be hierarchical - attributes can be simple or point to other business objects.