Protected Methods (ttadv7112m100)

Use this session to define the protected methods of a business object or business object component.

Note: If the business object has components, you can only create protected methods for the components.

Protected methods provide a means to access and manipulate the business object on an internal level. The methods are either standard methods or specific methods. Specific methods must be programmed manually. Standard methods can be generated based on the protected attributes of the business object. Standard methods perform the standard actions create, read, change and delete on these attributes.

If you defined a reference table for the business object, the following standard methods are used to operate on the reference table: CreateRef and DeleteRef. Refer to the Help on the Tables (ttadv7111m000) session for more information.

Field Information

Method

The name of the protected method.

If the method is a standard method, you cannot modify it. If the method is a specific method, you can modify its properties, such as name, return type or arguments.

The following rules apply to the protected method name:

  • If the business object has no components, the name must be unique within the business object. If the business object has components, the name must be unique within the component.
  • The name must refer to business concepts and/or the functionality of the business object. Do not use a name that refers to a technical solution.
  • Use LN terminology.
  • The name must be meaningful.
  • Only alphanumeric characters ([A-Z], [a-z], [0-9]) are allowed.
  • If the name consists of several words, start each word with a capital. Spaces are not allowed.

If a method name is not equal to one of the standard method names, the method type must be set to Specific in the Standard/Specific field.

Example: Change, GetEmployeeDescription.

Return Type

The return type of the business object method.

Allowed values

String

string

Long

long

Public methods can only have this return type.

Float

float

Date

The local date, which is stored as a long number in UTC format, but represented in the user interface as a local date.

UTC

Universal Time Coordinated

Void

Empty.

Complex

An XML tree.

Standard/Specific

This field indicates whether the method is a standard or a specific method.

Allowed values

Standard

Standard methods can be generated because their behavior is generic for all business objects. You cannot modify the properties of a standard method.

The following standard methods exist:

  • Create Create a business object or component.
  • Change Change a business object or component. The change actually is a change of the attribute values.
  • Delete Delete a business object or component.
  • Show Show a business object or component by returning the attribute values.
  • List Show multiple business objects.
  • CreateRef Create a record in the reference table, which indicates that an external application has a reference to the business object. As long as references exists, the business object cannot be deleted by LN.
  • DeleteRef Delete a record in the reference table.
  • PublishList Publish multiple business objects. For details, refer to "Event Publishing Overview" in the Web Help of the Data Director (da) package.
  • PublishChanges Publish all changes made to business objects. For details, refer to "Event Publishing Overview" in the Web Help of the Data Director (da) package.
  • UnpublishChanges Stop publishing of all changes made to business objects. For details, refer to "Event Publishing Overview" in the Web Help of the Data Director (da) package.
Specific

Specific methods cannot be generated automatically: the essence of a specific method is that its behavior is business object specific. Therefore specific methods must be programmed manually. You can define the name, return type, arguments and arguments properties of a specific method.

This field is filled automatically when you generate or create methods. You cannot change the content of the field.

Standard methods can be generated through the appropriate menu. You cannot modify the properties of standard methods. You can only delete the methods you do not require.