Application users can be granted access to export or import data directly from an
application. An administrator can identify an appropriate object structure for an application and
grant export and import capabilities to manage application data in a file, such as a CSV file that
can be maintained in spreadsheet.
About this task
Determine the object structure to use for the integration transactions
and then modify the content of the object structure to limit data exchange to the content that is
required.
Procedure
- In Application Designer, open the workspace for the application that you want to enable
and note the value in the Main Object field in the header
area.
This value must be the main object in the object structure that you modify for
application data import and
export.
- In the Object Structures application, specify the name of the main object in the
Object Structure field to filter for object structures based on this
object.
If the search does not return any object structures based
on the main object, you must create an object structure and the following steps do not
apply.
- If the search returns multiple object structures, select
an object structure where the value in the Consumed By field
is set to Integration.
- Review the content of the object structure to answer the following questions:
- Is the main object of the object structure the same as the main object of the
application that you want to enable for data export and import?
- Does the object structure include child objects that contain
data that users do not need to import or export?
For example, the MXPERSON object
includes the PHONE, EMAIL, and SMS child objects. Your users may want to import and export data for
the PERSON and PHONE objects only.
- After you review the content of the object structure, you can
choose to use the predefined object structure with all of its existing content or to duplicate this
object structure and modify its content.
If you make changes to a predefined object
structure, it can affect any other integration scenarios that use this object structure. Duplicating
the object structure and using this as a template does not cause unexpected behavior for other
integration users.
- Assuming that you duplicate the object structure to provide a new
object structure for this scenario, delete any child objects that are not necessary for your
integration users.
- For each object that remains in the object structure, select the
Include/Exclude Fields option in the Select Action
menu, and deselect all fields that users do not require to import or export.
This step
limits the data fields to only those needed by the application users.
- If delimited flat files are required (for use in a spreadsheet),
select the Support Flat Structure check box.
This step activates a validation to ensure that every column for every object in the object
structure has a unique name. If the validation fails, an Alias Conflict
indicator is set.
- If the object structure contains an alias conflict, select the
Add/Modify Alias option in the Select Action menu to
assign a unique alias for any field name where a duplicate exists.
Alias conflicts do not
exist in any of the predefined object structures.
- Save the object structure.
What to do next
The content of the object structure is now configured and you can grant
application access to it in the Object Structures application.