Import a Business Object Catalog

You can import a business object catalog by providing Oracle Visual Builder Add-in for Excel with the catalog's service metadata document.

You may also want to import an additional catalog if you need to use a different service at a different host or framework type.

Caution:

If you want to add an additional business object to your workbook, you should generally add it to your existing catalog. See Add Business Objects to an Existing Catalog for the steps.

To import a catalog:

1. Open the workbook where you want to import the catalog, then click Manage Catalogs from the Oracle Visual Builder ribbon.
2. From the Manage Business Object Catalogs editor, click + Add, then select Import Business Object Catalog From Service Metadata from the menu.
   
   Description of the illustration excel-add-service.png
3. Provide the URL for the service metadata document.

   Note:

   If you are importing an Oracle ADF REST Resource catalog, it is recommended that you use minimal mode to limit the amount of metadata retrieved for an application.

   To use minimal mode, append the metadataMode=minimal query parameter to your URL like this: .../fscmRestApi/resources/latest/describe?metadataMode=minimal

4. If required, provide authentication details, then click Next.
   For more information about authentication settings, refer to the authentication configuration steps in Create a Table Layout in an Excel Workbook.
5. If the service includes five or more business objects, select the business objects you want to include in the catalog, then click Next.
   
   

   
   Description of the illustration add_bo_catalog.png

   
   

   The add-in only harvests the metadata for the selected business objects as well as any business objects referenced in any configured lists of values.

   The wizard displays details of the newly-created catalog, such as the catalog name, service host and base path, and number of business objects.

6. Review the new catalog details.

   Note:

   If there are any errors in the service metadata document, click Save Report to save the report to your local drive. Share this report with the service owner.
7. Click Finish to close the Business Object Catalog Editor wizard.

Once the catalog has been created, review other topics in this and other chapters to see how you can improve the catalog for your workbook's layouts. For example, you may want to add help text or lists of values to fields in the new catalog's business objects. See Add Help Text to Your Workbook or Use Lists of Values in an Excel Workbook.

You may also want to edit the name of the catalog in the Business Object Catalog Editor to make it easier to understand its purpose. Very often, the title that the add-in displays for the catalog in the Excel workbook is the name of one of the business objects that the service exposes. For example, this image shows a catalog in which the default value for the Title property is "Employees". This catalog exposes an Employees business object, so to avoid confusion, you can change the title that the catalog uses in the Excel workbook to something like Human Resources Services.

Description of the illustration excel-change-service-name.png

Note:

Certain OpenAPI document properties, such as Description, can contain formatting hints. The add-in displays the description text as is, with no interpretation of such hints.