A business object is an entity within a
multi-tiered software
Software is a set of computer programs and associated software documentation, documentation and data (computing), data. This is in contrast to Computer hardware, hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work.
...
application that works in conjunction with the
data access and
business logic layers to transport data.
For example, a "Manager" would be a ''business object'' where its attributes can be "Name", "Second name", "Age", "Area", "Country" and it could hold a ''1-n'' association with its employees (a collection of ''Employee'' instances).
Another example would be a concept like "Process" having "Identifier", "Name", "Start date", "End date" and "Kind" attributes and holding an association with the "Employee" (''the responsible'') that started it.
Function
Whereas a program may implement
classes, which typically end in objects managing or executing behaviours, a ''business object'' usually does nothing itself but holds a set of
instance variables or
properties
Property is the ownership of land, resources, improvements or other tangible objects, or intellectual property.
Property may also refer to:
Mathematics
* Property (mathematics)
Philosophy and science
* Property (philosophy), in philosophy an ...
, also known as ''attributes'', and
associations with other business objects, weaving a map of objects representing the business relationships.
A
domain model
In software engineering, a domain model is a conceptual model of the domain that incorporates both behavior and data.Fowler, Martin. ''Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture''. Addison Wesley, 2003, p. 116. In ontology engineering, a d ...
where ''business objects'' do not have behaviour is called an
anemic domain model.
Business objects separate state from behaviour because they are communicated across the tiers in a multi-tiered system, while the real work of the application is done in the business tier and does not move across the tiers.
See also
*
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References
*Rockford Lhotka, Visual Basic 6.0 Business Objects,
*Rockford Lhotka, Expert C# Business Objects,
*Rockford Lhotka, Expert One-on-One Visual Basic .NET Business Objects,
External links
A definition of domain modelby
Martin FowlerAnemic Domain Modelby Martin Fowler
Programming constructs
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