Work with Data Objects

Data objects are the variables used to store the information used by your business processes. They’re defined during the design and implementation stage of a process. To complete a process application, you must ensure that you have associated each activity with the data objects it requires.

At runtime, data objects contain information that might be altered as users interact with your business process. Running processes can store, access, and manipulate data. The values stored within a data object can also be used to determine the branch that a process takes.

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Process Automation supports data objects that are based on generally simple data types. However, complex business objects can be created indirectly, by either creating a form or importing a JSON schema/sample in a connector. Which type of data type you base your data object on depends on the type of data it must handle.

Create a Data Object

You can create a data object based on a simple data object type or on a business object (complex data type). If you’re creating a data object on a business object, you must create the business object first.

To create a data object:

1. Open a process, and then click Data .
2. In the Data pane, click Create Data Object .
3. In the resulting Create Data Object pane, enter a name for your data object or use the default name in the Name field.
4. Under Data Type , select Simple to create a simple data object, or select Business to create a data object based on a business object.
5. Click Create.

Note:

A default process data object with the name TaskOutcomeDataObject is automatically created for the human task outcome when a human task is created. The Edit and Delete links are disabled for this data object.

In the Data pane, you can also edit or delete a data object. After editing or deleting a data object, validate your application to verify that there are no references to the changed or deleted data object.

If your process contains an inline/embedded subprocess, then to view the data objects of the subprocess in the Data pane of the main (parent) process, you have to toggle the Show subprocess data objects button. Note that you won't be able to edit or delete the subprocess data objects from the Data pane of the main process. To edit or delete the subprocess data objects , you have to open the Data pane in the context of the subprocess.

Edit or Delete a Data Object

You can edit or delete data objects.

To edit or delete a data object:

1. Open the process where you want to edit or delete a data object.
2. Click Data and in the Data pane that opens, expand the list of data objects for your process.
3. Select the specific data object.
   This step activates the Edit and Delete icons.
   • To edit the data object, click Edit Data Object , then change the name or data type as necessary.
   • To delete the data object, click Delete Data Object .
4. Click Close.

After editing or deleting data objects, validate your application to verify that there are no references to the changed or deleted data objects.

After editing a data object, you must ensure that all references to it are still valid. For example, if you change a data object type from an integer to a string, you must verify that all of the expressions that use the data object still function correctly. If they don’t function correctly, the application doesn’t validate.

After deleting a data object, you must ensure that all references to it are removed. This includes any data associations and expressions that use the data object. If you don’t remove references to the deleted data object, the application doesn’t validate.