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Transforming URL requests into Change BODs
The Management Center Web application transforms an URL request into a Change BOD when a Management Center user changes an object, for example, adding a new product description.
Step 1: Creating the Noun parts
The ActionExpression in a Change verb applies to the changeable parts that are identified within a Noun.
To transform an URL request into a Change BOD, identify the changeable parts of the Noun. After you identify these parts, use the Noun definition to identify these changeable parts to build the Change verb correctly. The Noun definition describes the Nouns and Noun elements that are defined in the Noun configuration. The Noun configuration contains the name of the Noun, as well as the factory and method to use to create the object. If a factory is not specified, then the default factory is used.
The Noun configuration also includes Noun elements that declare the changeable parts of the Noun and the supporting overlays on the elements of the Noun. If no Noun elements are declared, the default objects are used and the Noun is considered to not have any identified changeable parts. The Noun element configuration determines if the element is considered a changeable part and optionally declares the factory class and method that are used to create the object when an overlay is used. By default, if the Noun element is not configured, it is not considered a changeable part and the default object is used. The Noun element configuration is only required when identifying the changeable parts or declaring a new factory class and method used to create the object. When you define Nouns and Noun elements, both the identified changeable parts of a Noun and the factory class that is used to create the object when an overlay is used are registered when building the Change request.
When an element or attribute is set for an identified changeable part, an ActionExpression that points to that part of the Noun is created and added to the Change verb. Based on this configuration, any time that this element is populated, it is added to a set of XPaths that must be added for the change actions. After the Noun has been populated, a set of ActionExpressions is created and associated as part of the Change verb. Each changeable part of the populated Noun has an associated ActionExpression. The end result is a populated Noun and a corresponding Change verb that contains all of the Change instructions for the Change request.
Step 2: Creating the Change verb
To create the Change verb, a special URL parameter called actionCode is used to define the action code that must be part of the action expression.
URL to Change verb transformation has the following characteristics:
- The actionCode specified applies to all the parts of a particular Noun. Although the Change request can change multiple parts and each action expression can have a different action code, this scheme assumes that the actionCode for the Noun applies to all action expressions for that Noun. This is a limitation of the mapping scheme of actionCode for building the Change service request.
- The actionCode parameter value cannot be multi-valued. If multiple values are specified, only the first value is used. This characteristic is different than Process verbs, in which the actionCode can be multi-valued.
Example
For example, the following URL https://localhost/webapp/wcs/cmc/servlet/ChangeCatalogEntry.do?catentryId=10259&partNumber=FUOF01&language=en_US&ownerId=7000000011name=Mahogany+Desk+Chair&actionCode=Add... converts to this section of the BOD:
[...] <oa: ActionExpression actionCode="Add"> /CatalogEntry[1]/Description [...]
Related concepts
Map between Management Center objects and nouns