Ingredients of an entity object

In Chapter 2, Introduction to ADF Business Components we discussed the constituents of an entity object. In this section, we are revisiting the same topic to analyze the artifacts of an entity object in depth:

An entity object is composed of the following components:

• Entity object definition XML metadata file: This file is an entity descriptor, which holds metadata definition for the entity. This file stores the following configurations for an entity object:

  • This file stores the database object on which the entity is built upon. An entity object can be built from a database table, view, synonyms, or materialized view.

  • This file also stores the attribute definition for each column present in the entity object. This includes the datatype, length, precision, validation rules, and updatability of the attribute. Attribute definition also includes UI hints such as label, tool tip, format type, and control type.

  • View accessors and entity accessor attributes' definitions...