Method

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Methods are the operations related to an entity that you can perform in the line-of business (LOB) application. Methods represent pointers to business logic in a business application. Examples of methods are "get a list of customers", "get the order with a specified ID", and "update the unit price of a product".

The metadata for a Method essentially describes a method signature; for example, the name of an SQL stored procedure, an SQL query, or a Web services method. The definitions for the method signatures live in the LOB application. The Method metadata object provides the information about that method so the Runtime object model can query the metadata repository for this information when a client wants to execute the method.

Methods contain Parameter, MethodInstance, and FilterDescriptor

You can reuse the same back-end application method for multiple method instances in the Business Data Catalog. For example, the AdventureWorks sample reuses the GetProducts method as both Finder and SpecificFinder. The GetCustomerByID method in the SampleWebService reuses it as a SpecificFinder for customer and as an Association method to get addresses.

Important

Business Data Catalog supports only "first" generation Web services. Therefore, if you are using Windows Communication Foundation Web Services, make sure you are using only WS-I Basic Profile v1.0. Business Data Catalog does not support the eight other binding choices that Windows Communication Foundation offers. For a sample, see the SampleWebService. When you use Web services with overloaded methods, you cannot have multiple methods named identically in the Business Data Catalog metadata. A given entity can use only a single Web proxy method override at a given time. However, you can have multiple methods with the same name in the Web service. The Business Data Catalog will pick the correct method based on the signature in the metadata.

Examples

Database Stored Procedure

<Methods>
   <Method Name="CustomerFinder">
      <Properties>
         <Property Name="RdbCommandText" 
         Type="System.String">SPFindCustomer</Property> 
         <Property Name="RdbCommandType" 
         Type="System.Data.CommandType">StoredProcedure</Property> 
      </Properties>
         ….
         ….
   </Method>
</Methods>

Database SQL Query

<Methods>
   <Method Name="CustomerFinder">
      <Properties>
         <Property Name="RdbCommandText" 
         Type="System.String"> SELECT * FROM Customers </Property> 
         <Property Name="RdbCommandType" 
         Type="System.String">Text</Property> 
      </Properties>
      ….
      ….
   </Method>
</Methods>

Web Service

<Methods>
   <Method Name="Sd_Rfc_Customer_Get1">
   ….
   ….
   </Method>
</Methods>

Schema

Child Type Occurs Default Limits / Accepted Values Description

IsStatic

Attribute (Boolean)

0..1

true

If true, you can execute this method without an entity instance, by calling the Entity.Execute() object model method. If false, you must execute the method in the context of an entity instance, by calling IEntityInstance.Execute().

Finder methods are static.

FilterDescriptors

Element

0..1

Max. filter descriptors per method: 200.

Container element for FilterDescriptor.

Parameters

Element

0..1

Max. parameters per method: 30.

Container element for Parameter.

MethodInstances

Element

0..1

Max. method instances per method: 10.

Container element for MethodInstance.

Properties

Following are the properties that the Method object accepts for database systems.

Important

Properties are case-sensitive.

Property Type Required Default Value Limits/Accepted Values Comments

RdbCommandType

System.Data.CommandType

Yes

None

Text or

StoredProcedure

You can also use the enums such as System.Data.CommandType.Text.

RdbCommandText

System.String

Yes

None

SQL statement to execute or name of the stored procedure.

Following are the properties that the Method object accepts for Web service systems.

Important

Properties are case-sensitive.

Property Type Required Default Value Limits/Accepted Values Comments

HttpHeaderUserName

System.String

No

None

The name of the username header that the Web Service expects.

For details, see Support for Custom HTTP and SOAP headers in SP1.

HttpHeaderPassword

System.String

No

None

The name of the password header that the Web Service expects.

For details, see Support for Custom HTTP and SOAP headers in SP1.

SoapHeaderUserNameMemberName

System.String

No

None

This is the name of the username SOAP header that the Web service understands.

For details, see Support for Custom HTTP and SOAP headers in SP1

SoapHeaderUserNameMemberFieldName

System.String

No

None

This is the name of the field that contains the username.

For details, see Support for Custom HTTP and SOAP headers in SP1

SoapHeaderPasswordMemberName

System.String

No

None

This is the name of the password SOAP header that the Web service understands.

For details, see Support for Custom HTTP and SOAP headers in SP1

SoapHeaderPasswordMemberFieldName

System.String

No

None

This is the name of the field that contains the password.

For details, see Support for Custom HTTP and SOAP headers in SP1

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

Concepts

FAQ: Business Data Catalog
Business Data Catalog: Glossary