fs-pro developer guide

Developer Guide

Document Version: 2.0 – 2013-11-01

CUSTOMER

SAP Product Lifecycle Management for Insurance 2.0

2 • SAPProduct LifecycleManagement for Insurance 2.0Developer Guide

Publication Date: 11/4/2013© 2013 SAPAGor an SAPaffiliate company. All rights reserved.

C O N T E N T S

1 Extending and creating business objects 5

Business objects 5

Extended business objects 6

Custom business objects 12

Business object XML definition tags 12

Business object type XML structure 12

<BusinessObject> XML tags 13

<Definition> XML tags 14

<Attributes> XML tags 16

<Relationships> XML tags 20

<Dimensions> XML tags 22

Sample business object definition 24

How to extend business objects 27

Export a business object definition 27

Add a definition ID to the existing business object 28

Add a definition ID to the parent business objects 29

Import the updated business object definitions 30

How to create custom business objects 33

Copy an existing business object definition 34

Modify the business object definition 34

Extend the parent business objects 35

Import the business object definitions 37

•


SAPProduct LifecycleManagement for Insurance 2.0 Devel-oper Guide • 3



1Extending and creating businessobjects

This chapter contains the following topics:

Business objects 5

Business object XML definition tags 12

How to extend business objects 27

How to create custom business objects 33

Business objectsBusiness objects transfer product data from Product Configurator to tools or

repositories that need the information. The data transferred includes attribute names,

values, and relationships between objects and components.

Business objects are categorized by types (for example, coverage, coverage group,

form, and so on). You associate objects and components with business objects to

indicate which components to retrieve product data from.

C H A P T E R

1

Product Configurator is installed with SAP business objects. Each business object is

defined using an XML definition. You can extend these business objects or create

custom business objects.

Notes:

n For more information about business objects, how they map to product objects,

and how to configure them, see the SAP Product Lifecycle Management for

Insurance Product Configurator User Guide.

n If you need to store the business object data in a repository you can index the

data in a data mart. For information about setting up data marts, see the SAP

Product Lifecycle Management for Insurance Enterprise Deployment,

Integration, and Administration Guide.

Extended business objectsIn Product Configurator, you can create different implementations of objects that are

categorized under one business object type. For example, SAP Product Lifecycle

Management for Insurance provides a form object as part of the reference object.

Suppose that you want to add local attributes to a form object. You can create a new

form object with modified attributes, as shown in the following example:

1 Extending and creating businessobjects • Extended businessobjects



Your environment would include the following two form implementations:

n The out of the box form object provided with SAP Product Lifecycle

Management for Insurance

Note: For more information, see SAP Product Lifecycle Management for

Insurance 2.0 Installation Guide.

n The form object that you created with local attributes

To transfer data from all the form objects, extend the Form business object by

modifying the business object definition. This configuration involves the following:

n Extend the business object—In the business object definition, add a definition ID

for the new object.

n Extend the parent business objects—All definition IDs must belong to a unique

Product Tree structure defined in the business object definitions. By extending

the parent business objects, the definitions provide a mapping of the Product




Trees configured in Product Configurator. Product Configurator can traverse the

Product Trees based on the relationships defined in the definitions.

Note: These extensions are preserved during SAP Product Lifecycle Management

for Insurance upgrades.

Example: Extending the form business object

Suppose that you configured the Commercial Property (CP) and General Liability

(GL) lines of business in Product Configurator. You store information that is

common to the marketable products in the reference objects by country and state.

The following image shows the reference objects in the ISO Commercial P and C

Library:

These reference objects inherit from the ISO Company Reference Base and contain

the form object.

For the CP reference objects, you use the form object that is provided with SAP

Product Lifecycle Management for Insurance . For the GL reference objects, you

need to store GL-specific reference data, so you add a local attribute in the form

object in the GL reference object.




The following diagram shows the relationship between the objects:

Suppose that you want users to be able to search all form data in your marketable

products.

To pass all form data, you must configure the form business objects as follows:




n Extend the form business object by adding a <Definition id=...>

section for the modified form object.

n Extend the modified form's parent business objects. These extensions define a

unique Product Tree structure in the XML definitions. Based on the relationships

defined in the XML definitions, Product Configurator traverses the Product Tree

to the modified form to retrieve product data.

The following diagram shows the extended XML definitions:




Notes:

n For more information about extending business objects, see "How to extend

business objects" on page 27.




n For more information about object types, see the Object Modifier Type Manager

topics in the SAP Product Lifecycle Management for Insurance Product

Configurator User Guide.

Custom business objectsYou can create custom object types in Product Configurator by using the Object

Modifier Type Manager. These object types are user-defined and derive from the

SAP base object types (product, component, and questionnaire). You can create

instances of the custom object types in Product Studio and assemble those custom

objects in products.

To use business objects to transfer information from custom objects, create new

business objects. You create a new business object by creating a definition using

XML.

Notes:

n For more information about creating custom business objects, see "How to create

custom business objects" on page 33.

n For more information about custom object types, see the Object Modifier Type

Manager topics in the SAP Product Lifecycle Management for Insurance

Product Configurator User Guide.

Business object XML definition tagsEach business object is defined using an XML definition. The XML definitions

specify the attributes to get product data from, whether to index or display the

information, and how Product Trees are configured.

Business object type XML structureBusiness objects are defined using the following XML structure:

<BusinessObject type="type">



<Definition id="id" source="source">

<Description>description</Description>

<Mapping type="Object|Row|Table">

<ModifierCode>code</ModifierCode>

<ContainerModifierCode>modcode</ContainerModifierCode>

</Mapping>

1 Extending and creating businessobjects • Custom businessobjects

<Attributes>



<Attribute name="Object_Name" mapTo="objname" />

<Attribute name="Object_Version" mapTo="objversion" />

<Attribute name="Object_Description" mapTo="objdescription" />



<Attribute name="name" mapTo="attname" path="path" key="key"

index="Y|N" display="Y|N"/>

<CompositeAttribute name="name" attrList="item1,item2,..." />

</Attributes>

<Relationships>



<BusinessObject relationship="Child" type="type" id="id" />

<BusinessObject relationship="Uses" type="type"

locatedIn="Studio|Product">

<Component name="name">

<ObjectNameColumn>namecolumn</ObjectNameColumn>

<ObjectVersionColumn>versioncolumn</ObjectVersionColumn>

</Component>

</BusinessObject>

</Relationships>

<Dimensions>



<Dimension>dimname|ALL</Dimension>

</Dimensions>

</Definition>

</BusinessObject>

Note: For information about the XML tags, see the following topics:

n "<BusinessObject> XML tags" on page 13

n "<Definition> XML tags" on page 14

n "<Attributes> XML tags" on page 16

n "<Relationships> XML tags" on page 20

n "<Dimensions> XML tags" on page 22

<BusinessObject> XML tagsThe following table describes the <BusinessObject> section of the business

object XML structure:

1 Extending and creating businessobjects • <BusinessObject> XML tags

Tag Attribute RequiredorOptional

Description

BusinessObject Required Starts the business object type definition.

type=

”type”

Required Defines the business object type.

Limits: Do not use spaces. To separate words, we recommend that you

use underscores.

Note: This value is case-sensitive. For example, type="Coverage_

Group” and type=“coverage_group” create two business object

types.

Note: To see how the tags are structured, see "Business object type XML structure"

on page 12.

<Definition> XML tagsThe following table describes the <Definition> section of the business object

XML structure:


Description

Definition Required Starts the definition for an implementation of the business

object type.

Example: Suppose that the Coverage business object type

has two implementations of coverages. The implementations

can be defined using the following two definition sections:

<Definition id=”cat1” source=”Camilion”>

<Definition id=”cat2” source=”myCompany”>

Each definition can include different attributes and

relationships.

id=”id” Required Defines a unique identifier for the definition.

Limits: Do not use spaces. To separate words, we recommend

that you use underscores.

source=

”source”

Required Specifies any value that describes the source.

Note: SAP business object types are set to source

“Camilion”.

If you extend a business object type or create a custom type,

we recommend that you specify your company name.

Limits: Do not use spaces. To separate words, we recommend

that you use underscores.

1 Extending and creating businessobjects • <Definition> XML tags




Description

Description Required Describes the definition. If you do not want to add a

description, specify <Description />.

Mapping Required Starts the mapping specification. This tag describes how to

map the objects in Product Configurator into business

objects.

type=

”Object|

Row|Table”

Required Specifies how the object information is mapped to a business

object. Options are the following:

n Object—Specifies objects that do not contain attributes

within it. For example, coverages do not have any

attributes defined in the Attributes tab.

n Row—Specifies that each row in the component is a

separate business object (for example, forms and rules).

n Table—Specifies that the component has a table of

values associated with it (for example, rate tables and

domain tables).

Note: The entire table will not be indexed. Only the name,

version, and description will be indexed. Product

Configurator will retrieve the rest of the details from the

Product Configurator database.

ModifierCode Required Specifies the identifier for the object type. This value must

match the modifier code displayed in the Object Modifier

Type Manager.

Note: To find the modifier code in Product Configurator,

right-click the object and note the Component Type value in

the Component Properties dialog. Click Tools > Object

Modifier Type Manager, find that component type, and note

the Modifer Code value.

Example:

<ModifierCode>PROD_BAS</ModifierCode>

ContainerModifierCode Required Specifies the modifier code of the container. This value must

match the modifier code displayed in the Object Modifier

Type Manager.

If the object does not have a container, specify

<ContainerModifierCode />.

Note: To find the container modifier code in Product

Configurator, search for the object in Product Studio, and

note the Type value in the Search Result tab. Click Tools >

Object Modifier Type Manager, find that component type,

and note the Modifer Code value.

1 Extending and creating businessobjects • <Definition> XML tags




Description

Example: A Form Edition object is assembled in a Form

object. Therefore, the ContainerModifierCode is FORMS_

LIB_OBJECT.


on page 12.

<Attributes> XML tagsThe following table describes the <Attributes> section of the business object

XML structure:

Tag Attribute Required or Optional Description

Attributes Required Starts the attribute specifications. This tag maps

object information to business objects.

Attribute Required Specifies an object or component attribute.

Note:

n If <Mapping type="Object|Row">,

define an <Attribute> tag for every

attribute in the object or component.

n To specify whether a particular object

attribute will be indexed or displayed, use

the index and display XML attributes.

n If <Mapping type="Table">, define

only the following three

<Attribute> tags:

<Attribute name="Object_Name"

mapTo="objname" />

<Attribute name="Object_Version"

mapTo="objversion" />

<Attribute name="Object_

Description"

mapTo="objdescription" />

Example: In the Form Edition component,

define an <Attribute> tag for all its

attributes. If you want to index the

EditionNumber and EditionDate values, you

must also specify index=”Y” in the

<Attribute> tag.

1 Extending and creating businessobjects • <Attributes> XML tags




name=

”name”

Required Defines the name to store the information

under, in the business object.

Limits: Do not use spaces. To separate words,

we recommend that you use underscores.

Note: You must define the following three

tags:

<Attribute name="Object_Name"

mapTo="objname" />

<Attribute name="Object_Version"

mapTo="objversion" />

<Attribute name="Object_

Description"

mapTo="objdescription" />

Object_Name and Object_Version are always

indexed and displayed. Object_Description is

displayed only and never indexed.

mapTo=

”attname”

Required Specifies the Internal Name value in the

Attributes tab of the object.

Example: mapTo=”SelectionRule”

Note: The following syntax only applies to the

required Object_Name, Object_Version,

and Object_Description attributes:

n mapTo=”{name}”—Maps the attribute to

the name of the object displayed in Product

Studio. To specify any other Name field in

the object, do not use the { } characters (for

example, mapto=”Name”).

n mapTo=”{version}”—Maps the

attribute to the object version number. If the

object does not have a version number,

specify mapTo=”1”.

n mapTo=”{description}”—Maps the

attribute to the Description field in the

Manual tab. To specify any other

Description field in the object, do not use

the { } characters (for example,

mapTo=”desc”). If you do not want to

retrieve any description, specify

mapTo=””.

Note: You cannot specify the

index=”Y|N” attribute with the

mapTo=”{description}” attribute.





path=”path” Required if

<Mapping

type="Object">,

and

<Attribute

name="name"> is

not

Object_Name,

Object_Version,

or

Object_

Description.

Optional otherwise.

Specifies the relative path to the assembled

object to get attributes from.

Example: A coverage has attributes in the

Coverage Id component that is assembled under

the Identification folder . Therefore, specify

path=“Identification/Coverage Id”.

Note: If the attributes that you want to retrieve

are in the current object, you do not have to

specify path=”path”.

key=”key” Optional Specifies the sort setting for the row. This value

must be a unique integer.

We recommend that you specify a complete

sequence of keys. For example, specify keys 1,

2, and 3. In contrast, keys 2, 5, and 6 do not

form a complete sequence.

Note: For more information about keys, see the

topics about setting key columns in the Values

tab in the SAP Product Lifecycle Management

for Insurance Product Configurator User

Guide.

index=”Y|N” Optional Specifies whether to index the information in a

data mart. Indexed information can be searched.

Options are the following:

n Y—Indexes the information in the data mart.

If index is set to Y, display is

automatically set to Y.

n N—Does not index the information in the

data mart.

Note: If you do not specify this attribute,

index is set to N by default.

display=”Y|N” Optional Specifies whether to display the information.


n Y—Displays the information. This setting

only displays the information. To be able to

search for information, set index to Y.





n N—Does not display the information.

However, if index is set to Y, display is

always set to Y, even if you specify

display=N.

Note: If you do not specify this attribute,

display is set to N by default.

CompositeAttribute Required Creates a table column that contains values that

are concatenated object attributes.

Example: Use this tag if the consuming tool

needs to access values that consist of

concatenated attributes (for example, form

number and expiration date as one returned

value).

Note: Composite attributes are automatically

indexed in the data mart and displayed.

name="name" Required Specifies the name of the table column for the

composite attribute.

Limits: Do not use spaces. To separate words,

we recommend that you use underscores.

Example: name="CMIS_Key" creates a table

column named CMIS_Key.

attrList="item1,

item2,..."

Required Specifies the list of attributes to be

concatenated as the column value.

Limits:

n Separate the attributes with a comma.

n The attribute names must be defined in the

<Attributes> section of the XML

definition.

n Do not use spaces.

Notes:

n The list order of the attributes determines

the concatenation order.

n Product Configurator concatenates and

stores the list of attributes with the delimiter

|&|.

Example:

Supposed that you specify the following

values:

name="CMIS_Key"

attrList="Form_Number,Expiration_





Date"

Product Configurator creates a table column

named CMIS key and stores the values using

the following format:

"Form_Number|&|Expiration_Date"


on page 12.

<Relationships> XML tagsThe following table describes the <Relationships> section of the business

object XML structure:


Description

Relationships Required Starts the relationship specifications. This tag defines the

relationships between the business objects types. All the

relationships specified in the XML definitions create a

mapping of the Product Trees.

If the business object type has no relationships, specify

<Relationships />.

BusinessObject Required Specifies one of the following:

n A business object type that is assembled in the current

type (for example, coverages are assembled under

coverage groups)

n A business object type that is used by the current type

(for example, marketable products use reference objects).

Note: You only need to specify the assembled or used

business object type if you want to get data from those

objects.

relationship=

”Child|Uses”

Required Specifies how the business object type is related. Options are

the following:

n Child—Specifies that the related object type is

assembled in the current object type.

n Uses—Specifies that the current object type uses the

related object type.

type=”type” Specifies the business object type of the related business

object. This value must match the <BusinessObject

type="type"> value for that object, and an XML

1 Extending and creating businessobjects • <Relationships>XML tags




Description

definition must be defined for that type.

Note:Within a <Definition> section, you can only

define one relationship for a specific type.

For example, you can only define one Coverage relationship

in that definition, as follows:

<Relationships>

<BusinessObject type="Coverage"

id=“Coverage1"

relationship=“Child” />

</Relationships>

You cannot define multiple relationships for the same object

type. For example, if you have two coverage object types, the

following tags are invalid:

<Relationships>


id=“Coverage1"



id=“Coverage2"


</Relationships>

id=”id” Optional Specifies one of the definition IDs of the related business

object type. This value must match the appropriate

<Definition id="id"> value.

Note: This value is only required for

relationship="child".

locatedin=

"Studio|

Product"

Optional Specifies where the related object is located. Options are the

following:

n “Studio”—Indicates that the related object is a

standalone object in Product Studio.

n “Product”—Indicates that the related object is

assembled in a product structure.


relationship=“Uses”.

Component name="

name"

Optional Specifies the name of the related component in

Product Configurator.



Example:

1 Extending and creating businessobjects • <Relationships>XML tags




Description

<Component name="Reference Object Link">

ObjectNameColumn Optional Specifies the column in the related component that contains

the object name.



Example:

<ObjectNameColumn>

ReferenceObjectName

</ObjectNameColumn>

ObjectVersionColumn Optional Specifies the column in the related component that contains

the object version.



Example:

<ObjectVersionColumn>

ReferenceObjectVersionNumber

</ObjectVersionColumn>


on page 12.

<Dimensions> XML tagsThe following table describes the <Dimensions> section of the business object

XML structure:


Description

Dimensions Required Starts the dimensions specifications. This tag specifies the

dimensions available for the business object type.

If the business object type has no dimensions, specify

<Dimensions />.

Dimension Optional Specifies the available or configured dimension to map to at the

product level. Options are the following:

n dimname—Specifies the name of the configured dimension to

map to.

n ALL—Specifies that all the dimensions will be mapped.

Examples:

1 Extending and creating businessobjects • <Dimensions> XML tags




Description

<Dimension>Filing Number</Dimension>

<Dimension>ALL</Dimension>

Note: For more information about dimensions, see the Dimension

Manager topics in the SAP Product Lifecycle Management for

Insurance Product Configurator User Guide.

inheritProductDim

="Y|N"

Optional Specifies whether to apply product-level dimensions to the

business object, if dimensions are not applied at the object level.


n “Y”—Product dimensions are applied to the business object.

The data is only applied to objects that do not have

dimensions configured at the object level in


n “N”—Dimensions are not applied to the business object.

Note: If you do not specify this attribute, inheritProductDim

is set to Y by default.

Example:

Suppose that you configured a marketable product with State

dimensions, AK, NY, and OH, at the product level. You apply

dimensions to the following form objects:

n Form1 – NY, OH

n Form2 – None

You can specify the following tag in the business object type

XML definition:

<Dimension inheritProductDim=”Y”>

State</Dimension>

The inheritProductDim tag only applies product-level data

for objects that do not have dimensions set in


In this situation, Form2 has no configured dimensions. Therefore,

the inheritProductDim=Y setting applies the product-level

dimensions for Form2 but maintains the object-level dimensions

for Form1, as follows:

n Form1—NY, OH

n Form2—AK, NY, OH

Suppose that you specify the following attribute in the XML

definition:

<Dimension inheritProductDim=”N”>

State</Dimension>

1 Extending and creating businessobjects • <Dimensions> XML tags




Description

The inheritProductDim=N setting does not apply product-

level dimensions for Form2, as follows:

n Form1—NY, OH

n Form2—None


on page 12.

Sample business object definitionThe following XML definition defines the Coverage business object:

<BusinessObject type="Coverage">

<Definition id="Coverage_MO_1_0" source="Camilion">

<Description>Camilion Coverage Definition Model 1.0</Description>

<Mapping type="Object">

<ModifierCode>COV</ModifierCode>

<ContainerModifierCode />

</Mapping>

<Attributes>

<Attribute name=“Object_Name” mapTo="{name}" />

<Attribute name=“Object_Version” mapTo="{version}" />

<Attribute name=“Object_Description” mapTo="{description}" />

<Attribute name=“Code” mapTo="Code" path="Identification/Coverage

Id" index="Y" />

<Attribute name=“Display_Name” mapTo="Name"

path="Identification/Coverage Id" index="Y" />

<Attribute name=“LOB” mapTo="LOB_CD" path="Identification/Coverage

Id" index="Y" />

<Attribute name=“Associated_Risk” mapTo="AssociatedRisk"

path="Identification/Coverage Id" />

<Attribute name=“Selection_Rule” mapTo="SelectionRule"


<Attribute name=“Rated_At_Level” mapTo="RatedAtLevel"


<Attribute name=“Rollup_Indicator” mapTo="RollupIndicator"


<Attribute name=“System_Attribute_Table” mapTo="SYSATTR_TABLE_NAME"


<Attribute name=“Effective_Date” mapTo="effective_dt"


<Attribute name=“Expiration_Date” mapTo="expiration_dt"


1 Extending and creating businessobjects • Sample businessobject definition



</Attributes>

<Relationships />

<Dimensions />

</Definition>

</BusinessObject>

For every coverage object that matches the Coverage definition ID, Product

Configurator retrieves the following attribute information according to the XML

tags:

n Object name and object version, as shown in the following example:




n Object description, as shown in the following example:

n Information from the Identification > Coverage Id object, as shown in the

following example:

n Effective date and Expiration date—These attributes do not display in the

Attributes tab of the object in Product Configurator, but they are automatically

included in every object. To specify these attributes in the XML definition, use

the following Internal Name values:




<Attribute name="Effective_Date" mapTo="effective_dt"

path="path" />

<Attribute name="Expiration_Date" mapTo="expiration_dt"

path="path" />

1.How to extend business objectsYou can extend business objects to include all the object implementations. For

example, if you use two implementations of Coverage objects to configure your

marketable products, extend the Coverage business object by specifying a

definition ID for each coverage implementation.

To extend business objects

1. Export a business object definition (page 27).

2. Add a definition ID to the existing business object (page 28).

3. Add a definition ID to the parent business objects (page 29).

4. Import the updated business object definitions (page 30).

Notes:

n For more information about extended business objects and to see an example,

see "Extended business objects" on page 6.

n After you extend business objects, you can associate objects and components

with these types. For information about associating objects, see the

configuring business objects topics in the SAP Product Lifecycle

Management for Insurance Product Configurator User Guide.

Export a business object definitionBusiness objects are already defined for the SAP objects provided with SAP

Product Lifecycle Management for Insurance (for example, coverage, coverage

group, form, and so on). You can export the definition for an existing business

object and update it with the specifications of a new object implementation.

To export a business object definition

1. In Product Configurator, click Tools > Business Object Definitions.

The Business Object Definitions manager opens.

1 Extending and creating businessobjects • How to extend businessobjects



2. In the Business Object Type pane, click the business object type that you want

to update.

The definition displays in the Business Object Details pane.

3. Click Export.

A dialog opens, prompting you to open, save, or cancel the file export.

4. Click Save.

The Save As dialog displays.

5. Browse for a location to store the definition, and click OK.

The definition is exported to the specified location. The file extension is .xml.

Add a definition ID to the existing business objectAfter you export the definition of an existing business object, you can extend it to

add the specifications for the new object implementation.

To add a definition ID to the existing business object

1. Open the exported .xml file in an XML editor.

2. Copy the following section:

<Definition id="" source="">

...

</Definition>

3. Paste the copied text at the end of the file before the </BusinessObject>

tag.

The tag structure looks similar to the following:

<BusinessObject type="">


...

</Definition>


...

</Definition>

</BusinessObject>

4. Modify the copied <Definition> section by defining the specifications of

the new object.

1 Extending and creating businessobjects • Add a definition ID to the existing businessobject



Note: For more information about the tags, see "Business object XML definition

tags" on page 12.

5. Save the file.

A definition ID is added to the business object.

Add a definition ID to the parent business objectsTo retrieve product data, Product Configurator traverses the Product Trees based on

the relationships defined in the business object definitions. Product Configurator

starts by reading the definition for the marketable product or reference object

business object. Product Configurator reads the <Relationships> tag and

finds the objects that are associated with each related business object. This process

iterates through the relationships defined in every business object definition.

Therefore, if you extend a business object, you must also extend its parent business

objects to define the correct Product Tree mapping.

To add a definition ID to the parent business objects

1. Export the definition for the immediate parent of the business object that you

extended.

Example: If you extended the Coverage business object, export the definition

for its parent, the Coverage Group business object.

Note: For more information about exporting business objects, see "Export a

business object definition" on page 27.




...

</Definition>


tag.




...

</Definition>


1 Extending and creating businessobjects • Add a definition ID to the parent businessobjects



...

</Definition>

</BusinessObject>

5. In the <Relationships> section of the copied definition, modify the

<BusinessObject> line that specifies the relationship to the child

(assembled) business object that you extended.

The XML looks similar to the following example, where Coverage2 is the

definition ID that you added in the Coverage business object:



...

</Definition>


<Mapping type="">

</Mapping>

<Attributes>

</Attributes>

<Relationships>

<BusinessObject type="Coverage" id="Coverage2"

relationship="child" />

</Relationships>

<Dimensions />

</Definition>

</BusinessObject>

Note: For more information about the XML tags, see "Business object XML

definition tags" on page 12.

6. Save the file.

7. Repeat steps 1-6 for each parent object in the Product Tree, up to the marketable

product or reference object business object.

Example: After you extend the Coverage and Coverage Group business

objects, the next parent business object to extend is Marketable Product.

The definition IDs are added to the parent business objects.

Import the updated business object definitionsTo save the updated business object definitions in Product Configurator, import

them using the Business Object Definitions manager. After you import the

definitions, the business objects are available when you click to create a new

1 Extending and creating businessobjects • Import the updated businessobject definitions



object. The values are displayed in the Business Object Type field in the New

Object dialog, as shown in the following image:

The business objects are also available when you modify an existing object’s

properties. The values are displayed in the General tab of the Component

Properties dialog, as shown in the following image:




These fields let you associate objects with a business object.

To import the updated business object definitions



2. Click Import.

The Import Business Object Definition dialog opens, prompting you to select a

file to import.

3. Click Browse.

The Browse dialog displays.

4. Browse for the definition file that you want to upload, and click OK.

Note: The file must have a .xml extension.

5. Click Import.




The definition is validated. If the file is valid, the updated definition is imported

to Product Configurator and overwrites the existing definition.

Note: A copy of the original SAP business object definition is always stored in

Product Configurator as a backup.

If the file is not valid, the definition is not imported. A dialog opens, displaying

the validation errors. To see the XSD, click Camilion XSD.

Note: XML schema errors are displayed one at a time because the structure must

be valid before values can be parsed for validation.

How to create custom business objectsYou can create custom object types in Product Configurator by using the Object

Modifier Type Manager. To use business objects to transfer data from these custom

object types, create new business objects.

To create custom business objects, follow these steps:

1. Copy an existing business object definition (page 34).

2. Modify the business object definition (page 34).

3. Extend the parent business objects (page 35).

4. Import the business object definitions (page 37).

Notes:

n For more information about custom types, see "Custom business objects" on

page 12.

n After you create custom business objects, you can associate objects and

components with them. For information about associating objects, see the

configuring business objects topics in the SAP Product Lifecycle Management

for Insurance Product Configurator User Guide.

n You cannot create a custom business object for a marketable product or reference

object. Instead, extend the SAP Marketable_Product or Reference_

Object business object by adding a definition ID for your custom object.

1 Extending and creating businessobjects • How to create custom businessobjects



Copy an existing business object definitionBusiness objects are already defined for the SAP objects provided with SAP

Product Lifecycle Management for Insurance (for example, coverage, coverage

group, form, and so on). You can export the definition for an existing business

object and use it as a template to create your custom business object.

To copy an existing business object definition



2. In the Business Object Type pane, click the business object that you want to use

as a template.

The definition displays in the Business Object Details pane.

3. Click Export.

A dialog opens, prompting you to open, save, or cancel the file export.

4. Click Save.

The Save As dialog displays.

5. Browse for a location to store the definition, and click OK.

The definition is exported to the specified location. The file extension is .xml.

6. Rename the exported definition to correspond to your custom business object.

Example:myCustomObject.xml

The business object definition is copied.

Modify the business object definitionAfter you make a copy of an existing business object definition, you can modify it to

correspond to your custom object type.

To modify the business object definition

1. In an XML editor, open the definition file that you renamed.

2. Modify the following line:

<BusinessObject type="type">

1 Extending and creating businessobjects • Copyan existing businessobject definition



type=”type”

Defines a name to represent the custom object type that you created in

Object Modifier Type Manager.

3. In the <Definition> section, specify the ID and modifier code information

for the custom object type.

4. In the <Attributes> section, specify an <Attribute> line for each

attribute in the custom object type.

5. In the <Relationships> section, specify a <BusinessObject> line

for each child (assembled) object of the custom object type and for each object

that the custom object type uses.

6. Save the file.

The business object definition is modified to match your custom object.

Note: For more information about the XML tags and to see an example, see

"Business object XML definition tags" on page 12 and "Sample business object

definition" on page 24.

Extend the parent business objectsTo retrieve product data, Product Configurator traverses the Product Trees based on

the relationships defined in the business object definitions. Product Configurator

starts by reading the definition for the marketable product or reference object

business object. Product Configurator reads the <Relationships> tag and

finds the objects that are associated with each related type. This process iterates

through the relationships defined in every business object definition.

Therefore, if you create a custom business object, you must also extend its parent

business objects to define the correct Product Tree mapping.

Note: If the parent business object is also a new custom business object, instead of

this procedure, copy an existing definition and modify it accordingly. For more

information about modifying a definition for a new business object, see "Modify the

business object definition" on page 34

To extend the parent business objects

1. Export the definition for the immediate parent of the custom business object that

you created.

1 Extending and creating businessobjects • Extend the parent businessobjects



Example: If you created a custom business object and assembled the object in a

Form Library, export the definition for the Forms Library business object.

Note: For more information about exporting business objects, see "Export a

business object definition" on page 27.




...

</Definition>


tag.




...

</Definition>


...

</Definition>

</BusinessObject>

5. In the <Relationships> section, modify the <BusinessObject> line

that specifies the relationship to the child (assembled) custom business object that

you created.

The XML looks similar to the following example:



...

</Definition>


<Mapping type="">

</Mapping>

<Attributes>

</Attributes>

<Relationships>

<BusinessObject relationship="child"

type="myCustomObject" id="CustomObject1" />

</Relationships>

<Dimensions />

</Definition>

</BusinessObject>

1 Extending and creating businessobjects • Extend the parent businessobjects



Note: For more information about the XML tags, see "Business object XML

definition tags" on page 12.

6. Save the file.

7. Repeat steps 1-6 for each parent object in the Product Tree, up to the marketable

product or reference object business object.

Example: After you extend the Forms Library business object, the next parent

business object to extend is Reference Object.

The parent business objects are extended.

Import the business object definitionsTo save the updated business object definitions in Product Configurator, import

them using the Business Object Definitions manager. After you import the

definitions, the business objects are available when you click to create a new

object. The values are displayed in the Business Object Type field in the New

Object dialog, as shown in the following image:

The types are also available when you modify an existing object’s properties. The

types are displayed in the General tab of the Component Properties dialog, as

shown in the following image:

1 Extending and creating businessobjects • Import the businessobject definitions



These fields let you associate objects with a business object.

To import the business object definitions



2. Click Import.

The Import Business Object Definition dialog opens, prompting you to select a

file to import.

3. Click Browse.

The Browse dialog displays.

4. Browse for the new definition file that you created, and click OK.

Note: The file must have a .xml extension.

5. Click Import.

The business object definition is validated. If the file is valid, the new definition

is imported to Product Configurator.




If the file is not valid, the definition is not imported. A dialog opens, displaying

the validation errors. To see the XSD, click Camilion XSD.

Note: XML schema errors are displayed one at a time because the structure must

be valid before values can be parsed for validation.




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