CoBOC |
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Collaborative Business Object Cache (CoBOC) is a repository of business objects created and managed using Process Platform. The Process Platform provides a robust capability for effective management of business objects, which includes a mechanism for object state management, configurable business rules, and real-time state monitoring. CoBOC also offers a repository plug-in that allows data to be persisted in a database or application.
What are Business Objects?
The objects that transact in the CoBOC are XML objects. These XML objects are instances of templates that have been created. These objects are also known as business objects. For example, an object of type purchase order may be inserted in the CoBOC and can be made to interact with another object of type Sales Order to perform a particular transaction. Likewise, several thousands of objects can be made to interact with each other. Throughout their existence in the cache, a whole range of business processes may act on them that can determine the very nature of the collaboration setup of an enterprise.
CoBOC - A Common Repository for Collaborative Business Objects
The implementation of a business process may call for the creation of several business objects collaborating with each other, contributing to the overall implementation of the process. From this perspective, based on the design of the application, which may call for the implementation of several business process flows, a multitude of business objects may need to collaborate to perform business functions. Speed of implementation and ease of access to these business objects become critical factors that could decide the effectiveness of business processes.
CoBOC accomplishes this by providing a common repository where all business objects can collaborate in a fast and an efficient manner throughout their life cycles. The repository can hold business objects and XML documents such as schema definitions, process models, mappings and so on. The CoBOC is a powerful layer upon the database and abstracts the user from querying the database directly. Instead, developers can query the CoBOC itself and use CoBOC's powerful features to manipulate business objects to their specifications.
Important: CoBOC has no restrictions on the case sensitivity but depends on the case sensitivity of the database and the file systems. If the database is case sensitive then CoBOC is also case sensitive and vice versa. For example: SQL server is by default case insensitive but Oracle by default is case sensitive. Different filesystems have different behaviours like Windows is case insensitive, while Linux is case sensitive. Hence while designing an application, a developer has to take care of these issues.
Key Features of CoBOC
The key features of CoBOC are:
- Repository for business objects
- Object state management
- Database-independent persistence of business objects
- In-memory management of business objects
Deploying CoBOC
CoBOC can be deployed in two ways:
- As a service, where CoBOC functionality is delivered through SOAP requests and responses.
- Embeddded CoBOC, where CoBOC functionality is delivered as APIs. Refer to JavaAPIs section, for more information on embedded CoBOC functionality.