Structure of a Business Object Type (SAP Library - BAPI Programming Guide Reference (CA-BFA))

Structure of a Business Object Type

The graphic below best illustrates the concept of a business object type:

The kernel of a business object type describes the latter’s inner object structure, in other words its data and the structure of this data.

A constraint is a rule that ensures the consistency of an object (for example, different pricing conditions are assigned as of a stipulated minimum sales quantity).

Business rules are rules that an object must comply with to ensure it remains consistently embedded in its environment (for example, a sales organization can only sell to a customer for whom business relationship information exists).

The interface provides the pre-defined means of accessing business object types. These can be public attributes, methods/BAPIs and events.

An object can be accessed via COM/DCOM or CORBA. Within ABAP applications, a business object can be accessed by Remote Function Call (RFC).

Defining and Implementing an Object Type

Business objects (object types) are defined and described in the BOR by the following characteristics:

Basic data
comprises the mnemonic object name, the technical name of the object type, its name (meaningful description), its short description, release status, default method, default attribute and the name of the program containing the implementation.

Interfaces
provide a pre-defined interface (attributes, methods, events) for an object. Interface types generally do not contain an implementation.

Key fields
that uniquely identify an object.

Attributes (data)
that represent object properties and characteristics.

Methods (functions)
that encapsulate R/3 functionality either by synchronous or asynchronous methods.

Events
indicate the occurrence of a status change of a business object.