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This article provides information about the composite data types that are supported in Electronic reporting (ER) expressions. The composite data types are class, container, record, record list, and object.
Class
The class data type refers to a public application class. In ER, it's represented as a record that contains a separate field for every public method of the referenced class. When the call of the method is parameterized, you must also specify the required arguments of the appropriate types in an ER expression that is configured to call the method.
In ER mapping and format components, you can add the Class data source that is presented as a data source and that returns a value of the class type. This data source exposes public methods of the class that you can call at runtime.
Note
Only methods that return a value can be called from ER expressions.
Only methods that have a range of zero to eight arguments can be called from ER expressions.
The default value of a class is null.
The following illustration shows how the System information(xInfo) data source of the Class type is added to make the instance of the xInfo application class and call its productName() method to receive the name of the current application. The name of the current application is fetched at runtime by execution of the xInfo.productName binding that you configured for the Software name(SoftwareName) field of the ER data model. This binding calls the productName() method of the xInfo application class that is represented in the current model mapping as the System information(xInfo) data source.
The following illustration shows how the ER format is configured to put the provided application name in generated documents. The Software name(SoftwareName) field of the used data model is bound to the String component that is nested under the softwareUsed XML element of the ER format. So, the name of the current application is placed at runtime to the softwareUsed XML element of a generated document in XML format.
Container
The container data type holds binary content. Use a container value to pass specific information from storage to a generated document. In the ER framework, use this data type to include media content such as a company logo in generated documents.
Note
Although you can represent every media item as a container value, not every container value represents a media item. Therefore, if you configure an ER format to use a container to include an image in generated documents, but the referenced container doesn't return media content, an exception might be thrown. The exception resembles the following example: "Error executing code: Binary (object), method constructFromContainer called with invalid parameters."
The default value of a container is null.
The following illustration shows how the Bitmap(Image) field of the Container type is bound to the data model Logo field of the Container type in the Sales invoice model mapping. This binding makes the company logo available to any ER format that is designed for the SalesInvoice root definition and that uses this model mapping at runtime.
Record
A record is a collection of named fields, each associated with a value of either a primitive data type or a composite data type. Usually, you use a record to represent a single record in a record list. In this case, every item represents individual fields, methods, and relations.
The default value of a record is empty.
Note
When you get the value of a field in an empty record, the default value of the appropriate data type is returned.
You can get a record by using the following functions:
For more information about the transformation of record values, see List of ER functions in the list category.
Record list
A record list is a list of items of the record type. Usually, you use a record list to represent the list of records that you fetch from a database table.
By default, you access records in a record list sequentially. To access a specific record, use the INDEX function and specify the integer index.
The default value of a record list is empty. Use the ISEMPTY function to check whether a record list is empty.
Note
If a record list is empty, any attempt to get a field value for a record in it causes an exception to be thrown at runtime. To learn how you can help prevent runtime exceptions of this type, see Consideration of empty list cases.
Initiate a record list by using the following functions:
For more information about the transformation of record list values, see List of ER functions in the list category. To learn how to introduce record list items, fill them with application data, and then use the data to generate business documents, see Design a new ER solution to print a custom report.
Object
An object is a stateful instance of a class. You usually create an object in source code. You then pass the object to an ER model mapping, where it provides details about the execution context.
The default value of an object is null.
The following illustration shows how you add the ReportDataContract data source of the Object type to pass information about a generated invoice from source code to the Project invoice model mapping. For example, the invoice instance text is part of the execution context. The execution context text comes from source code at runtime by execution of the ReportDataContract.parmInvoiceInstanceText binding that you configured for the Note field of the ER data model. This binding calls the parmInvoiceInstanceText() method of the PSAProjInvoiceContract application class that the current model mapping represents as the ReportDataContract data source.
To learn how to pass details of the execution context from source code to the running ER solution, see Develop application artefacts to call the designed report.