Defining an Attribute

You define an attribute in Studio from the Project Navigator.

To define a BPM Object attribute:

  1. In the Project Navigator, right-click on the BPM Object (BPM Object icon ), and click New > Attribute (Attribute icon ). The Attribute dialog box appears.
  2. Enter the attribute name in the Name field.
  3. Select the data type from the Type drop-down list, and click OK. The attribute editor for the new attribute opens.
  4. For some data types, you can specify length or precision, as shown below:
    Data Type Property Possible values
    String Maximum Length 1 to 10,000
    Decimal Decimal Digits 0 to 100
    Time Time Precision Date Only, Time Only, or Timestamp
  5. In the Storage Constraints section of the editor, you can check one or more of the following:
    Storage Constraint Description
    Virtual If set, the attribute will not hold data. Instead, you must define a Read Access method, a Write Access method, or both. See Virtual Attributes.
    Primary Key If set, the attribute will be used as an identifier to determine if two BPM Objects are the same. You would typically set this for an attribute containing a unique value, such as an ID number.
    Not Null If set, a null value is not allowed, and you will need to set a default value in the Default Value section.
  6. In the Default Value section, you can set an initial value the attribute will be given when the BPM Object is created. If you did not set the Not Null option, you may also set the default value to Null.
  7. In the Required Expression field, you can enter a Process Business Language expression that will be evaluated when the attribute field is changed in a presentation. For example, you can make sure the user enters a value greater than zero with the following expression: 
    attributeValue > 0
  8. Save (Save icon ) the changes and close the editor window by clicking on the X in the bottom tab. If you close from the top tab, you will close the BPM Object.
Parent topic: BPM Objects