Technique for generating views of archived business data
An apparatus, a method and a non-transitory computer readable medium are described herein related to generating views for archived business objects. The views display query results which are retrieved from a relational database for archived business data. The views are generated with a view generator which makes use of both a catalog, a standard business object and a business object parser which may detect differences in terms of field names and foreign-key relationships between a standard business object and a customer-enhanced business object. The combination of standard business objects with a business object parser enables the re-use of components from a standard library of business objects across various clients without resulting data loss, especially when there are client-specific deviations from the standard model of business objects.
1 . An apparatus for viewing business data, the apparatus comprising:
a business object parser for retrieving metadata from a relational database, wherein said metadata comprises metadata of customized tables, metadata of customized fields comprised in said tables and metadata of foreign key relationships comprised in said customized tables;
an interface to a repository, wherein said repository stores a plurality of standard business object definitions, wherein a standard business object definition comprises a plurality of standard table definitions, wherein at least one of said standard table definitions comprises a plurality of standard field definitions, and wherein at least one of said standard table definitions comprises one or more standard foreign key relationship definitions; and
a view generator for generating a custom business object view of a standard business object wherein said standard business object is populated with archived data from said relational database wherein said view is generated by combining said metadata and said definition of a standard business object in such a way that at least one customized field of a customized table becomes both visible and searchable in a generated search and display type user interface for said standard business object.
2 . The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a link generator for sub-views, wherein said link generator is configured to scan a repository of activation field groups for a match, wherein an activation field group comprises a plurality of field names and a link to a sub-view, wherein said match is detected when said plurality of field names is found in a field name catalog derived from metadata of a customized table.
3 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said view is generated by combining said metadata and said definition of a standard business object in such a way that at least one of said foreign key relationships is depicted in a generated search and display type user interface for said standard business object and wherein said foreign key relationship is not comprised in said one or more standard foreign key relationship definitions.