The Data Modeler is the built-in editor for creating data objects as part of a Project data model from Business Central. Data objects are custom data types implemented as POJOs. These custom data types can then be used in any resource (such as a Process) after importing them.

To open the editor, open the Project Authoring perspective, click New Item → Data Object on the perspective menu. If you want to edit an existing model, these files are located under Data Objects in Project Explorer.

You will be prompted to enter the name of this model object when creating a new model, and asked to select a location for it (in terms of the package). On successful addition, it will bring up the editor where you can create fields for your model object.

The Data Modeler supports roundtrips between the Editor and Source tabs, along with source code preservation. This allows you to make changes to your model in external tools, like JBDS, and the Data Modeler updates the necessary code blocks automatically.

In the main editor window the user can

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite supports all Drools annotations by default, and can be customized using the Drools & jBPM domain screen. For further information about available domain screens, see Section 4.14.5, “Data Object Domain Screens”.

If you want to add/edit custom or pre-defined annotations, you can switch to the source tab and modify the source code directly (in Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio or Business Central). You can also use the Advanced screen to manage arbitrary annotations.

When creating or adding fields to a persistable data object, the JPA annotations that are added by default will generate a model that can be used by Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite at runtime. In general, modifying the default configurations where the model will be used by processes is not recommended.

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite 6.2 onwards supports the use of JPA specific annotations, with Hibernate available as the default JPA implementation. Other JPA annotations are also supported where the JPA provider is loaded in the classpath.

From Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite 6.2 onwards, the Data Modeler is extended to support the generation of persistable Data Objects by checking the Persistable check box on the perspective menu when you create a new Data Object. Persistable Data Objects are based on the JPA specification. When the Persistable check box is selected when the object is created, the platform will set some configurations required for persistence by default.The object can also be made persistable after the object has already been createdThis can then be customized as required.

The following domain screen tabs can be selected from the right side of the Data Object editor screen.

Drools & jBPM

The Drools & jBPM screen allows configuration of Drools-specific attributes.

The Data Modeler in Business Central supports the editing of pre-defined annotations of fact model classes and attributes. The following Drools annotations are supported, and can be customized using the Drools & jBPM interface:

For the fields within the fact model, the position annotation is supported. The Drools & jBPM screen when a specific field is selected looks as follows:

Persistence

The Persistence screen can be used to configure attributes on basic JPA annotations for persistence. Fine tuning of annotations, or to add specific annotations, use the Advanced screen.

The Persistence screen when a specific field is selected looks as follows:

The following annotations can be managed via the Persistence screen.

All other JPA annotations can be added using the Advanced screen.

Advanced

The Advanced screen is used for fine-tuning of annotations. Annotations can be configured, added and removed using the Advanced screen. These can be any annotation that is on the classpath.

After you click on the add annotation option, the Add new Annotation window is displayed. It is required to enter a fully qualified class name of an annotation and by pressing the search icon, the annotation definition is loaded into the wizard. Then it is possible to set different annotation parameters (required parameters are marked with *).

If possible, the wizard will provide a suitable editor for the given parameters.

If it is not possible to provide a customized editor, the wizard will provide a generic parameter editor.

After you enter all the required parameters, the Finish button is enabled and the annotation can be added to the given field or data object.

When an attribute type is defined as another Data Object, the relationship is identified and defined by the symbol in the object attribute list. You can jump to the Data Object definition to view and edit by clicking on the icon.

Relationship customization is only relevant where the data object is persistable.

Relationships can be configured by selecting an attribute with a relationship and choosing the Persistence button on the right. Under Relationship Properties, click the Relationship Type property editing option.

Attempting to delete a Data Object that has a relationship with another Data Object will show the Usage Detected screen. It is still possible to delete the object from here, however this will stop your project from building successfully until the resulting errors are resolved.

When creating persistent data objects, the persistence.xml file is created by default when the user opens the project editor and selects Persistence Descriptor. It can then be configured via the Persistence Descriptor. The Persistence Descriptor is accessible by opening the Project Editor, and clicking Project Settings: Project General Settings → Persistence descriptor.

In the Advanced properties section, it is possible to change or delete all the properties generated by default and add new ones as well.

If you open the Project persisteable Data Objects section in the Persistence Descriptor, you will see that there are two available buttons:

Deployment Descriptor editor can also be accessed via the Project Editor menu, and allows configuration of the kie-deployment-descriptor.xml file for deployment in the jBPM runtime. Automatic configuration of the JPA Marshalling Strategies is only available in JBoss BPM Suite.

The data set functionality in Business Central defines how to access and parse data. Data sets serve as a source of data that can be displayed by the Dashbuilder displayer. You can add the Dashbuilder displayers to a custom perspective in the Plugin Management perspective. Note that the data set perspective is visible only to users of the Administrator group.