Object-typed Fields and Subfields

Oracle Visual Builder Add-in for Excel supports fields of type Object. These fields may expose subfields, also known as "nested" fields.

Consider, for example, an Employee business object with the following fields:

• First Name (type: String)
• Last Name (String)
• Address: (Object)
  • Street (String)
  • City (String)
  • State (String)
  • Zip (String)
  • GPS Coordinates (Object)
    • Latitude (Number)
    • Longitude (Number)
• Hire Date (Date)

In this example, the type of the Address field is Object and it contains subfields. Object fields should not be confused with arrays. In this example, an Employee has only one Address. The add-in does not support fields that are typed as arrays.

The add-in handles Object fields and their subfields in the following manner:

1. First, in the Business Object editor Fields tab, only the top-level fields are listed. In this example, the top-level fields are: First Name, Last Name, Address, and Hire Date. To edit the properties for subfields of Address, edit Address and find the Subfields list on the Field Editor window. The direct subfields for Address are Street, City, State, Zip, and GPS Coordinates. Since GPS Coordinates is of type Object, its field editor will show its subfields (Latitude, Longitude).
2. Next, when creating a Table layout from a business object's fields, the add-in promotes the subfields and creates columns for each (leaf) subfield. This maintains a regular, rectangular structure for the table in the worksheet. So, the above example generates a table with these columns:
   • First Name
   • Last Name
   • Address / Street
   • Address / City
   • Address / State
   • Address / Zip
   • Address / GPS Coords / Latitude
   • Address / GPS Coords / Longitude
   • Hire Date