Business Objects

The individual business objects are grouped together into mini-modules called functional areas, for licensing purposes.

A module can have one or more functional areas (e.g. the Inventory module has seven functional areas. This enables you to license only the functionality that you require.

• Utilities

  Used for logging on/off, retrieving preferences and calling standalone programs.

• Query

  These do not update or change the underlying database. They simply retrieve data, often applying business rules to the returned information.

  Business objects that are part of the query class only require one XML string.

• Setup

  Used to create semi-static items such as stock codes and customers.

  Business objects that are part of the setup class require two XML strings, the parameter string and the document string.

• Transaction

  Used to post transactional data line inventory movements, sales orders and producing invoices.

  Business objects that are part of the transaction class require two XML strings, the parameter string and the document string.

Each class contains several methods:

• Utilities class:

  • Logon - to logon to e.net Solutions

  • Logoff - to logoff from e.net Solutions

  • GetLogonProfile - to retrieve information about the currently logged on session

  • Run - to run a NetExpress program

• Query class:

  • Browse - to generically browse columns from a table

  • Fetch - to generically return all rows from a specified column in a table

  • Query - to access query-type business objects

  • NextKey - to generically retrieve a key alphabetically higher than an existing key

  • PreviousKey - to generically retrieve a key alphabetically lower than an existing key

• Setup class:

  • Add - to add single or multiple items with a single call

  • Update - to change single or multiple items with a single call

  • Delete - to delete single or multiple items with a single call

• Transaction class:

  • Build - to retrieve information helpful during the post

  • Post - to post transactions

The naming convention for business objects is similar to SYSPRO programs, in that they have a six character program name.

The first three characters consist of a module code (e.g. INV is the module code for the Inventory Control module).

If the business object is not related to a specific module, then the first three characters will be COM.

The fourth character contains one of the following:

• Q - Query business object

• S - Setup business object

• T - Transaction Posting business object

• R - Retrieve/Build business object

• U - Utility business object

The remaining two characters are a short mnemonic indicating the business object function.

This is a SYSPRO operator code that allows more than one e.net user to logon at the same time.

Against the operator code you configure the number of logons that must be allowed within a 30 minute time period. This effectively becomes the number of concurrent users (i.e. the number of licenses consumed when the operator is licensed to use a functional area).

Guest/anonymous user licensing is available for business objects and Web-based Applications. The idea of the guest/anonymous user is that you do not need one SYSPRO operator for each person that requires the same access to e.net Solutions. For example: if a SYSPRO company wants to provide an application to 300 customers that allows them to capture sales orders remotely and upload them using web services, they may not want to provide a license for each one, particularly since some order daily, some only order monthly and some order infrequently. By establishing how often their customers order they can work out the maximum number that could logon during any 30 minute time period. They could then create an operator to process these orders and set it to be a guest/anonymous user. Against this they can set the number of concurrent users during a 30 minute time period.

Considerations

• If a guest/anonymous user has a concurrent user count of three, then each functional area to which the guest/anonymous user is given access will consume three licenses.

• If a guest/anonymous user logs on to e.net Solutions, logs off and logs back on again within 30 minutes, then two licenses will have been consumed. Because this method could use more licenses than that consumed in a named user environment, we recommend that you only use this licensing method when appropriate.

• Because each of the users that are logging on with a guest/anonymous operator code are using the same operator code, you cannot place restrictions (or set defaults) individually. All users of the operator code will have the same defaults and restrictions. You also cannot tell (using job logging, or journals) exactly which person performed a task, or made a change, as it will all be logged under the same guest/anonymous operator code.

• A guest/anonymous user who successfully logs on to e.net Solutions is allocated a 33 character UserID which is placed in the COMSTATE file, together with its state information. Each time this user uses a business object, a timestamp is updated against the UserID in the COMSTATE file. Unlike a named user, when a guest/anonymous user exits e.net Solutions their UserID and matching state information is not removed from the COMSTATE file, but the timestamp is updated.

  When another attempt is made to logon using the same guest/anonymous user account, a check is made to see how many users of this operator code are already logged on.

  The user is allowed to logon if the number is less than the number of concurrent users allowed for this operator code.

  If the number is the same as the number allowed, then a check is made to establish which existing user of the operator code has the highest period of inactivity. If this period of inactivity is 30 minutes or greater, they are logged out and the new user logged on. If the highest period of inactivity is less than 30 minutes the new user is informed that this guest account has exceeded the maximum number of concurrent users.

• If a guest/anonymous user is already consuming licenses for functional areas and the number of concurrent users against the operator is increased using the Operator Maintenance program, it is possible that this will cause the number of licenses to exceed those available. If this occurs, a message is displayed, indicating that you have apportioned more licenses to business objects than you are licensed to use.

A named user is a SYSPRO operator code. The business logic components of e.net Solutions are referred to as business objects. These are subdivided into functional areas (e.g. Requisition System functional area) and it is these functional areas that are licensed for the number of named users that will use them.

Unlike the core SYSPRO product, the different functional areas can be licensed for different numbers of users. For example: you could have 150 users of the Requisition System functional area and 10 users of the Purchase Order Primary Posting functional area.

Against the functional area you specify which named users can use the functional area. This allows the named user to have one concurrent logon to e.net Solutions. If another user attempts to logon to e.net Solutions (using the same operator code) while the initial user is still logged on, the existing user will either be logged off and the new user logged on, or the new user will be prevented from logging on, depending on XML parameters passed during the second logon attempt.

You can prevent the second user from logging on by supplying the following XML entry during the logon process:

<logon><FailWhenAlreadyLoggedIn>Y</FailWhenAlreadyLoggedIn></logon>

Within the Operator Groups program, the Security Access pane includes four e.net Solutions areas that you can specifically target to restrict operator access to business objects (unless the operator belongs to a group with administrator rights):

• Module e.net Solutions - Query

• Module e.net Solutions - Setup

• Module e.net Solutions - Transaction

• Module e.net Solutions - Utility

Business object entries are listed within each section and you can restrict access by ticking the relevant checkbox in the Access allowed column.