IBM InfoSphere Master Data Management, Version 10.1

Creating data extensions

Before you write extensions, you must define and describe the extensions within the InfoSphere® MDM Server database, along with the set of condition parameters that must be true for the extension to be run.

When creating an extension, all custom names must be prefixed with a three letter abbreviation followed by an underscore, such as ABC_getItem. These naming guidelines apply to all custom business objects, database tables, and transaction names.

You must define the extensions and their condition parameters from the Data Extension option within InfoSphere MDM Server Workbench. The process of defining the extension is documented in the InfoSphere MDM Server Workbench Guide.

InfoSphere MDM Server provides two approaches to data extension persistency:

Inline extensions persist extension attributes in an existing core database table.
Side table extensions persist the extension attributes in a new extension database table.

The following table provides some guidance to help developers decide which approach to use when implementing data extensions.

Table 1. Data extension considerations
Consideration	Side table extensions	Inline extensions
Compatibility issues	None, assuming naming standards are properly followed.	None, assuming naming standards are properly followed.
Database I/O performance	Inquiry transactions require two database calls: one for the core table, and one for the extension table.	When using the Inquiry/Persistence framework, only one database call is required for selecting, inserting, and updating data.
Mapping extension attributes	Extension entity objects are mapped to the extension table using IBM® pureQuery Java™ annotations.	Extension entity objects are mapped to the same table as the original entity objects were mapped to, using IBM pureQuery Java annotations.
Ability to tune	Low	High
Data history	History for extension columns is kept in its own history table.	History for extension columns is kept in the base history table.
Development effort	Low	Medium. To realize the benefits of the inline extension method, an extra step is required to override the base query to ensure that single INSERT/UPDATE SQL statements are used.

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Last updated: 18 Jul 2013

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