Lab C.2: Explore the Application

In this exercise, you'll explore an application, identify some of its major components, and see how they are related.

Discover the Objects Used in the Application

1. Click Settings > Administration > Global Resources > Packages > Order Processing
   A new pane appears with package information.
2. Scroll to the bottom of the pane, to the list of dependencies.
   • The entities this package depends on is displayed, under "Items".
   • Notice the Contacts, and Accounts items, which are designated as type "Object".
3. Click Designer > Objects.
   The objects used in the application are shown, along with those used by other applications running in your instance of the platform.

Tip: It's easy for applications to share information, because the objects they contain are living in the same cloud. For example, a customer record created in an order-entry application would be available for use in a shipping application.

Examine the Orders Object

An "object" in the platform is both a table in a database, and a record within it. When accessing a record, the singular form of the name is used, when referencing the table as a whole, the plural form is used. So the "Orders object" is a collection of records and the metadata that defines behaviors like data polices and forms. An "Order object" on the other hand, is an individual record augmented by those behaviors.

1. Click Designer > Objects > Orders.
   The Object Information pane appears.
2. Here are the attributes you can modify:
   • Object Properties, where the singular and plural forms of the object name are specified.
   • Forms where you control how data is displayed and interactively edited
   • Object Fields
   • GUI Actions to take when data is being specified (for example, to populate dependent fields)
   • Indexes though which records can be accessed
   • Validations for field data
   • Data Policies to activate when data is stored
   • Print Templates to determine how the data appears when printed, and