High-level object relationships

To understand specific data structures, you should understand the high-level relationships between BMC Remedy AR System objects. (For descriptions of these objects, see Workflow objects.) As the following figure shows, the foundation of all client programs built on BMC Remedy AR System is the schema. Although the BMC Remedy AR System API uses schemas, the BMC Remedy AR System clients see schemas as forms. A client must access at least one schema and can access many.

High-Level object relationships

Your client program can also have menus and containers. Either servers or schemas (forms) can own containers, which the server uses to create guides and applications. Applications can contain one to many schemas. Guides can be shared and can contain one to many active links.

AR System has the following types of schemas:

• Data — The most common. Data schemas contain data in the BMC Remedy AR System database.
• Display-only — Show data from one data schema. Display-only schemas do not contain data.
• Join — Show data from two or more data schemas with a common matching field. Join schemas do not contain data. When you modify values in a join schema, you are changing the data in its parent data schemas.
• Vendor — Acquire data from a plug-in service and act like data schemas.
• View — Show data from external database tables and act like data schemas.

Each schema must have at least one view (the default view) but can have many.

Each data schema must have at least one field but is likely to have many fields. (By default, every data schema is created with nine core fields that cannot be deleted. For more information about core fields, see Core fields.)

AR System has the following types of fields:

• Data — A schema must have at least one data field.
• Nondata — Trim, control, panel, and table. Nondata fields are optional.

Most data schemas have many entries, but a schema can exist with no entry. Although the BMC Remedy AR System API still uses this term, the BMC Remedy AR System clients use the term requests.

Any number of filters, escalations, or active links can be associated with a schema or list of schemas, but these objects are not required. See Schemas and structures.

Active links can be associated with either data or control fields. An active link must be associated with a particular schema. A data or control field can have any number of active links associated with it. A particular execute-on condition of an active link can be associated with only one field. Different execute-on conditions in the same active link can reference different fields.

Menus can be associated only with data fields. A menu can be associated with any number of data fields, both in a schema and across multiple schemas. However, a data field can have only one menu associated with it.