Architecture doubt

Jake B.

Rank: #17137

Solved

Question

Architecture

OutSystems 10

Service Studio

I have a espace PROJ_DB where I have the entities and a PROJ_BK for a backoffice.

I want to do a CreateOrUpdate on an entity in the PROJ_BK and it seems that its a best practice to have the entities read only in the database espace and have server actions to insert on the database.

My doubt is, if the entitis are read only in the PROJ_DB, in the PROJ_BK espace I just have the GET action available.

So how can I do a CreateOrUpdate in the PROJ_BO using a server action? Its necessary to create a public server action in the PROJ_DB espace and then
add this server action to the PROJ_BO? But its ok to create a public server action for a CreateOrUpdate in the database espace?

on 2020-10-28

Rui Barradas

Rank: #94

Solution

Hello Jake,

Hope you are doing well.

Usually, that is done using what is called as CRUD wrapper actions. Basically, you may create a Public server action which is going to call your CreateOrUpdate entity action (in PROJ_DB module). Then you just need to add this created action (CRUD wrapper) as a dependency in your PROJ_BK module and use it. This will allow you to maintain your entities as Read Only in your PROJ_DB module.

There are a lots of reasons to use this practice, instead of using entity actions directly. The main reason is related with the possibility to have a centralized location for any additional logic related with a create, delete, update or read of a record. Imagine for example that you want to have default values for some attributes everytime you want to create a new record. You may just place this logic in this wrapper and have a centralized location :)

Please, check this article written by MVP Justin James that should allow you to understand why this is a good practice and several benefits about using CRUD wrappers.

Hope that this helps you!

Kind regards,

Rui Barradas

on 2020-10-28

2 replies

Last reply on 2020-10-28

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Jake B.

Rank: #17137

Im doing the exercise of the movies app in the 7.2 part. It says to add Actions to Create or Update Movies. I would like to have a server action in the DB espace to insert/update movies to use in the BO espace in the screen to create a movie. In this case do you know what are the necessary input and output parameters for the server action in the DB espace? Its necessary the movie id or its only necessary the other movie details (title, etc) but not the movie id? Thanks!

on 2020-10-28

João Marques

Rank: #70

Replying to Jake Boris' comment on 28 Oct 2020 20:50:32

Hi Jake,

The CreateOrUpdate entity actions will create a new record if your input parameter does not have an Id and will update a record matching the Id if you pass one.

For that reason, if your wrapper is a Create Or Update one, you want to have the Id as an input and the other details as well (title, etc.).

Hope it helps.

Cheers,

João

on 2020-10-28

Jake B.

Rank: #17137

Thanks, and do you know if the createOrUpdate wrapper also needs an output parameter with the movie id?

on 2020-10-28

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Last reply on 2020-10-28

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Rui Barradas

Rank: #94

Hello Jake,

Yes, usually the CreateOrUpdate wrapper returns the Id as an Output parameter :)

Kind regards,

Rui Barradas

on 2020-10-28

Jake B.

Rank: #17137

Replying to Rui Barradas' comment on 28 Oct 2020 21:10:26

Thanks but like that there is an input parameter MovieId and a Output parameter also MovieId, there is some best practice for naming these paramters since they have the same name?

on 2020-10-28

Rui Barradas

Rank: #94

Replying to Jake Boris' comment on 28 Oct 2020 21:45:15

Hi Boris,

You may have a unique input parameter which is a Record from your Entity (and this variable contains all the fields).

Then you may assign your values as you desire for each field in that <Entity> Record variable.

If your <Entity>.Id is null, it will create a new record. If you pass one and it matches, it will update. Then you can just have your Id as an output parameter.

If you still want to have your fields instead of a single variable, you may use something as MovieIdIn for input parameter and MovieIdOut for output parameter. But I would go with a single variable :)

Kind regards,

Rui Barradas

on 2020-10-28

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