Business Object - User Defined Name

tazzmaxx

I have a situation where technical specifications were delivered with all BO names defined by the IT group. The app was built and displayed to the business and in a typical failing of communication between the 2 parties the IT naming conventions do not comply with the business requirements.

While this is something that IT and the business side will need to work out my question is the following:

Can a BO be created with one name and then have a user defined name associated with the object that displays to users in the application?

That way if a BO was called CONTACT_ASC01 (which is what the IT group wants to see because it complies with their database design practices) a configurator could call the BO CONTACTS (which is what the business wants to see). I know that you can do this at an attribute level by changing the label in the presentation but I'm not sure about the BO level.

If this can be done at a BO level then the business related CONTACT would be visible in the Import/Export lists and if a BO is used in a BOG and the user has to select from the BOs in the BOG.

If there is a way to do it (without changing the actual BO name of course) then I cannot seem to figure out how to do it. If not, does anyone else experience this problem or am I alone on this one?

Thanks

ACDC

I think the ability to provide an "Alias" to an Object and also to its attributes would be a good solution for this. I have a similar problem where the object name and attribute name don't make sense to the user when setting up user defined queries and reports

Dallas

I have a similar situation. I am trying to put an application together for some of my clients that will replace an old MS access solution that they have. Basically I would like to give them a nice web solution (still up in the air but trying to sell it to upper management).

Anyway I am guessing that there is not a way to get the Tables to not show up all smushed together and ITish. For example when I try to search for objects I get things like ProductType and ClientSpecificItems. Is there a way to get these to seperate or change them?

tford

Dallas,

Are you asking about user defined queries, etc or ones that you as the configurator would design?

Dallas

I think I know what you mean. I am talking about when I run a Search for na Object. In the list of values in the drop down is not in a user friendly format.

Does that make sense?

aware_support

When you display references as a drop down, the drop down will show those attributes that you indicate when defining the presentation for the attribute. It will separate the values with spaces. Usually it makes sense to show just one attribute, so that it looks nice. You need to indicate which attribute of the referred object you want to show. If you do not indicate any attributes at all Aware IM will show a number of arbitrary attributes

tazzmaxx

I think Dallas is talking about exactly what I am talking about. When you enter BO names sometimes the names are not what the end user wants to see. like the following:

BusinessAddress (the user may want to see 'Business Address' instead)
ProductType (Product Type)

I wasn't originally referring to referenced objects as we have no problem changing the name. I am talking about if a user selects Export or Import that the BO names are listed (not a user friendly name) or if you are selecting a BO from a BOG the drop down will list the BO names.

daxhamlin

I am a new user (verion 1197). and I have been struggling with the same issue except I just figured that I was doing something wrong.

When I look at Recent objects or do a search or create a new record using the default search and new object forms in the system menu all I see are the BO names and some of them are not user friendly. As well, the import and export forms are the same way.

Please tell me there is an easy way to change the BO names. I love the ease in creating a new application and I like using the default new object, search, recent objects and import/export forms.

Thanks,

Dax

Dallas

I think I described my issue incorrectly. Tazzmaxx hit exactly what I wanted to communicate.

Example:
I am looking at the sample application CRM. If I want to look for objects in the database I go to: System => Search Objects. Once the 'Search Business Objects' screen is loaded I goto the first dropdown for a list of available business objects. I get items like 'CommunicationAlert', 'StaffMember' and 'RegularUser'. Is it possible to add spaces or even change what is displayed to the user? For example in the access application I am trying to replace all of the tables are displayed to the users with names that differ from what it is actually called in the DB.

Just one less thing to say 'yes I am changing the way you work and O by the way the names of things have also changed'. I just want to have as little to explain to the clients and managers as possible.

tford

Dallas,

I do a lot of Access work as well as AwareIM.

I want to make sure you know that BO names can be customized on Queries & Forms like shown on CRM live app at http://208.109.48.98/AwareIM/crm_startup.jsp

The user defined search capability that you are talking about having with AwareIM isn't something your Access users have today is it?

Dallas

Tom,
Thanks for the advice. The old Access app clients are using currently has functionality that is very similar to the Search for Object Functionality. I would just like to give them the same thing they have now or better.

Also, I see that there is export functionality (haven't had a chance to try yet). Is that effected by the object names.

Thanks for the help the query stuff you mentioned I will look at for sure.

tford

Dallas,

Export has the same BO name limitation right now.

One difference between Access and AwareIM is the ability to deploy new releases of your program. With an Access program it's obviously a major chore to update the program for any significant number of users.

With AwareIM however, you simply log in as admin & click Standard | Upload Version & you are done. All users will immediately be using the application you just changed.

In our case, I find that users really do not want to be doing custom queries. They would rather give me a call & let me know what they need. With the ability to make quick changes in AwareIM, the new capability can usually available to them very quickly.

I also find that things that are though of as ad-hoc queries or reports, usually should be made available for future use. With a little bit of Q&A with users, that's what I usually find out.

So, in my case AwareIM offers a new / expanded paradigm from Access with a quicker development --> deployment cycle.

Dallas

Tom,
Thanks for quick responses. I definately see the huge advantage I will gain if I can sell this to upper management. Also, you hit the nail on the head with why I am doing research now. It seems there are multiple changes that need to be made to the old access app and I would like to use this as an opportunity to change the platform.

Do you know if this limitation is going to be addressed or is it possible to addressed.I understand that it may not be high priority but it would be nice to have this or tell those above me it will be changed in a future version.

Thanks so much for taking care of me with this. I was beating my head on the wall reading the documentation trying to figure out how to change it.

tford

Dallas,

Do you know if this limitation is going to be addressed or is it possible to addressed.

That's a question for support.

daxhamlin

Hi Tom,

You are very knowledgable about everything Aware related.

How do we get something like this on the wish list. I don't see where I can add a poll for a new wish. I can only post to existing polls on the forum.

Is there an area for downloading examples?

Thanks,

Dax

tford

Support will likely read this post.

Sample apps are in C:\AwareIM4\samples and can be easily loaded in the config tool when you create a new bsv.

daxhamlin

Sorry to be such a Noob but I don't have an AwareIM4 folder. I have an AwareIM folder...did I do somehting wrong on the install?

Also, I was thinking more along the lines of the forum anyway. Can we post bsvs and download bsvs from the forum?

Thanks for your help

aware_support

I am not sure I understand what the fuss is all about. Please note that, as Tom indicated, the Search Objects, Recent Objects, Create Object etc should be mostly used by administrators, not end users. For end users you would configure specific menu items that would run specific queries, create specific objects and run specific processes. So the end user will not see those operations where object names are seen explicitly.

The only exception to this is export/import, but this is not a functionality that is frequently used by most users, so I don't think it is worth all this discussion.

With respect to sample applications - they are located in the samples folder under you root Aware IM directory, i.e. the directory you specified during installation.

tazzmaxx

Hi Support,

I am more concerned with business object groups and what is displayed to a user when multiple BOs are assigned to a group. When the user selects to add a BO they would then be presented with a dropdown menu that would allow them to select from the BOs that are a part of the BOG. There is no way for a configurator to change the names of the BOs that are displayed in the dropdown (short of changing the actual name of the BO which may not be possible).

I agree that it seems insignificant but users can be very particular especially managers who like to red pen your work. If we have to tell them that we cannot change the name of something in the dropdown which is simple to do in other environments it appears that we don't know what we are doing. I don't mind telling a user that it is a limitation but it would be nice to have the same Aware functionality that is available at the attribute level to be available at the BO level. Respectfully, my experience is that users love the recent objects section, so I would disagree that it is something just for administrators.

daxhamlin

Noob alert. I did not mean to make a fuss. Sorry support if my questions rubbed anyone the wrong way.

My two questions that Tom couldn't answer and was hoping to find out were how to post a poll on the wish list section of the forum and if there was a place to upload and download bsvs on your forum.

Thanks,

Dax - 1197 demo