LobSystem
An LobSystem object is a source of business data, business logic, or both. SAP R/3 IDES, Siebel 7.5, and the AdventureWorks SQL Server 2000 sample database are examples of LobSystem objects.
Client Impact
To use the Business Data features such as Business Data Web Parts and Business Data columns in lists, you must define the metadata for the LobSystem object. The LobSystem object is the top-level container for metadata that describes a particular business application. In XML terms, it is the root node that contains all other metadata objects in an application definition.
After you define the metadata for a system and add the application definition to the Business Data Catalog, the entities become available to you in all the Business Data features. Entity Picker will show the entities in the system if you have appropriate permissions and have defined the metadata appropriately.
Remarks
The LobSystem object derives from the MetadataObject base class. Each LobSystem object has a unique name and is of a certain type: either Database or Web Service. The Business Data Catalog accesses systems of the same type by using the same provider. For example, AdventureWorks is a Microsoft SQL Server database, and the Business Data Catalog accesses it and all SQL Server databases through Microsoft ADO.NET. SAP R/3 IDES is an SAP R/3 system, and Business Data Catalog accesses it through the Web services proxy, as it does with the Siebel 7.5 system.
Examples
The following examples show the XML for LobSystem objects that represent a database and a Web service, respectively. Version number is user-defined and is of the format - major.minor[.build[.revision]].
Database
<LobSystem xsi:schemaLocation="https://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2006/03/BusinessDataCatalog BDCMetadata.XSD" Type="Database" Version="1.0.0.0" Name="AdventureWorksSample" xmlns="https://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2006/03/BusinessDataCatalog">
<!-- The Business Data Catalog treats the name you specify here as the applicaton name. This is the name that appears in the Administration user interface. -->
<Properties>
<Property Name="WildcardCharacter" Type="System.String">%</Property>
<!-- The Business Data Catalog uses the Wildcard character specified here with filter parameters.-->
</Properties>
….
</LobSystem>
Web Service
<LobSystem xsi:schemaLocation="https://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2006/03/BusinessDataCatalog BDCMetadata.XSD" Type="WebService" Version="1.0.0.1" Name="AWSECommerceService" xmlns="https://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2006/03/BusinessDataCatalog">
<Properties>
<Property Name="WebServiceProxyNamespace" Type="System.String">AWSECommerceService</Property>
<Property Name="WsdlFetchAuthenticationMode" Type="System.String">PassThrough</Property>
<Property Name="WsdlFetchUrl" Type="System.String">http://webservices.amazon.com/AWSECommerceService/AWSECommerceService.wsdl</Property>
<Property Name="WildcardCharacter" Type="System.String">%</Property>
<!-- The Business Data Catalog uses the wildcard character specified here with filter parameters.-->
</Properties>
….
</LobSystem>
Schema
| Child | Type | Occurs | Default | Limits / Accepted Values | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Type |
Attribute(bdc:lobSystemType) |
0..1 |
Database WebService |
The type of system. |
|
Version |
Attribute (String) |
1..1 |
Same value space as System.Version: major.minor[.build[.revision]] |
The version of the application definition. The Business Data Catalog prevents you from overwriting a system with the same name and a lower version number. |
|
SystemUtility |
Attribute (String) |
0..1 |
Min length: 1 Max length: 255 |
Fully qualified name of a type that implements ISystemUtility. Allows extensible LobSystem types, which is not supported in SharePoint Server 2007. |
|
ConnectionManager |
Attribute (String) |
0..1 |
Min length: 1 Max length: 255 |
Fully qualified name of a type that implements IConnectionManager. Allows extensible LobSystem types, which is not supported in SharePoint Server 2007. |
|
EntityInstance |
Attribute (String) |
0..1 |
Min length: 1 Max length: 255 |
Fully qualified name of a type that implements IEntityInstance. Allows extensible LobSystem types, which is not supported in SharePoint Server 2007. |
|
LobSystemInstances |
Element |
0..1 |
Max instances per system: 300 |
Container element for LobSystemInstance |
|
Entities |
Element |
0..1 |
Max entities per system: 200 |
Container element for Entity |
|
Associations |
Element |
0..1 |
Max associations per system: 1000 |
Container element for Association |
Properties
Following is the list of properties that the LobSystem object accepts for both database and Web service systems.
Important
Properties are case-sensitive.
| Property | Type | Required | Default Value | Limits/Accepted Values | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
WildcardCharacter |
System.String |
No |
* (asterisk) |
Must not be null or an empty string. |
The system-specific wildcard string. The wildcard filter replaces "*" in the filter value with this string. For example, the SQL Server wildcard string is "%". For more information, see the WildcardFilter documentation. |
WildcardCharacterEscapeFormat |
String |
No |
\{0} |
Must not be null or an empty string. |
The wildcard filter escapes system-specific wildcard strings in the filter value using this format string. For more information, see the WildcardFilter documentation. |
In addition to the properties listed previously, the following properties are accepted by the LobSystem object for Web service systems.
Important
Properties are case-sensitive.
| Property | Type | Required | Default Value | Limits/Accepted Values | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
WsdlFetchUrl |
System.String |
Yes |
None |
URL to a Web service discovery document or WSDL file. |
|
WsdlFetchAuthenticationMode |
Syste Microsoft.Office.Server.ApplicationRegistry.SystemSpecific.WebService.HttpAuthenticationMode |
No |
RevertToSelf |
PassThrough RevertToSelf Credentials WindowsCredentials |
Authentication mode used to fetch the Web services discovery document or WSDL file. |
WsdlFetchSsoProviderImplementation |
System.String |
Yes, if WsdlFetchAuthenticationMode is Credentials or WindowsCredentials |
None |
Fully qualified type name of the ISsoProvider implementation used to fetch the Web services discovery document or WSDL file. |
|
WsdlFetchSsoApplicationId |
System.String |
Yes, if WsdlFetchAuthenticationMode is Credentials or WindowsCredentials |
None |
Fully qualified type name of the ISsoProvider implementation that stores credentials used to fetch the Web services discovery document or WSDL file. |
|
WebServiceProxyNamespace |
System.String |
Yes |
None |
Namespace in which to generate Web service proxy classes. |
|
WebServiceProxyProtocol |
System.String |
No |
Soap |
Soap Soap12 HttpPost HttpGet HttpSoap |
Protocol used by the Web service. The default, Soap, means SOAP 1.1. |
WebServiceProxyType |
System.String |
No |
None |
Must subclass HttpWebClientProtocol |
Fully qualified name of a type to use instead of the automatically generated Web service proxy. If this property is set, a Web service proxy is not generated. This can be particularly useful when proxy generation fails, and it is simpler to manually compile the proxy and install it in the global assembly cache and reference it with this property. If the WebServiceProxyType property is not used, all nonprimitive types referenced in TypeDescriptors should be referenced from the autogenerated proxy assembly. However, if the WebServiceProxyType is used, and points to a type in an assembly in the global assembly cache, TypeDescriptor types can be used from any assembly. Also, if you use the WebServiceProxyType property, then the TypeDescriptor TypeNames need to be fully (assembly) qualified type names as opposed to ‘TypeName, LobSystemName’. |
WebProxyServerConfiguration |
System.String |
No |
None |
Proxy server URL. Requests to fetch WSDL are routed through this proxy server. |
See Also
Tasks
AdventureWorks SQL Server 2000 Sample
How to: Get Started with Using the Runtime Object Model
How to: Get Started with Using the Administration Object Model