Data Areas

The data area has no business purpose other than to provide a common schema location for re-used schema structures. It exists solely to help eliminate redundant element declaration. For example, if you have multiple schemas that share a common structure, you can set up a stand-alone data area schema for the common elements and then include it in each of the other schemas.

Be aware that a stand-alone data area can hold elements that are mapped to true fields. For example, you might have 50 different types of field activities and all might share a common set of elements to identify where and when the activity should take place. It would be wise to declare the elements that are common for all in a stand-alone data area and then include it in the 50 field activity business objects.

It's strongly recommended that you take advantage of stand-alone data areas to avoid redundant data definition!

CAUTION: Dynamic inclusion! When the system renders a schema, all schemas included within it are expanded real-time. This means that any change you make to a data area will take effect immediately within all schemas it is referenced within.
Note:

Schema Tips. The data area page includes a speical Schema Tips zone that provides a link to launch help topics related to the Advanced Schema Topics help in one click.

Data areas may be included in a business object that does not define a full UI map for display or input. Rather, it is using auto-rendering by defining UI attributes in its schema and via UI hints.

Note: View UI Rendering. A context sensitive "View UI Rendering" zone appears on this page. It may be used for a data area that is part of a business object that is using auto-rendering for the display and input maps. The buttons allow you to view the rendered UI for the segment of the schema that is defined by the data area.

Related Topics:

Parent Topic: Configuration Tools