HowTo:Classes, APIs, and Naming Conventions

For:   Developers Level: Intermediate Time:  10 minutes See more:     ◾ HowTo Guides

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Uses for Java Classes

In addition to their use as Page "controllers", Java classes and the methods they contain can be used in many other ways:

Data Policies

You can use Data Policies to send email or update a record, among other things. You can also use a Data Policy to execute Java code.

Pre-processing

A pre-processing policy executes before the trigger event has taken place, allowing you to:

• Validate data - Do sophisticated validation of incoming, throwing an exception to prevent invalid data from getting into the system.
• Mask Data - Intercept outgoing data before it is delivered, replacing the first several digits of a social security numbers with X's, for example. (Note: When masking data, it is important to execute the data policy on both List-display and record-display events.)

Post-Processing

A post-processing policy executes after the event has taken place. For example, after a record has been added to the system, you might use it's contents to update other records in the system.

Handlers

Custom Email Handlers

With a custom Email Handler, you intercept email messages sent to a special platform address, and process them however you need to.

Learn more: HowTo:Handle Incoming Emails Programmatically

Custom Package Data Handlers

When a Package is created, it contains the skeleton for the database Objects that are included in the package. No data is included. In cases where data is needed, you can create a Package Data Handler with two methods defined by interface. One tells the platform which data to include when a package is created. The other tells the platform what to do with the data when the package is installed.

Learn more: HowTo:Create a Data Handler to Add Data to a Package

Invoking Java APIs

Ninety-nine percent of the time, the Java APIs you invoke will be from Functions class.

In: com.platform.api.Parameters

Parameters params = Functions.getParametersInstance();

Out: com.platform.api.Result

A list of Parameters objects

Loop to get all, or just grab the first:

ParametersIterator it = result.getIterator();

Parameters result_params = it.next();

Controller: Put Result values into a HashMap for the JSP page