Object fields

The integration framework and the external system exchange a subset of the data columns in the objects within the object structure. Subject to certain restrictions, you can control the content of the object fields within the message by including persistent and nonpersistent columns of individual objects.

A business object can have many fields, most of which may not be necessary for an integration scenario. When you configure an object structure, you can select which fields to include in integration messages and improve the performance of message transfer between applications. By default, the objects in an object structure include all the persistent columns of the objects. A persistent column is a data field that an object uses to write data to a database table as part of its processing. To control the content size, you can exclude persistent columns that you are not exchanging with external applications. Only the included persistent columns are part of the XML or JSON message for outbound messages. For inbound messages, only the object columns that are included in the object structure are updated. Do not exclude any column that is part of a primary or alternate key.

An object structure excludes most nonpersistent columns in the component objects. A nonpersistent column is a temporary data field that an object uses for calculations or temporary storage. You can include additional nonpersistent columns in the object structure. For example, objects that contain the persistent column DESCRIPTION also contain the nonpersistent column DESCRIPTION_LONGDESCRIPTION. Most predefined object structures include this nonpersistent column because many integration scenarios require long description fields. If this field is not included, it is not part of the integration messages. If you change the message content of an object structure that is being used for an interface table, the interface table must be regenerated to reflect the updated content of the object structure.