Customizing applications using overlays and custom objects

In its default Best Practice Customization mode, Developer Studio  provides the flexibility required to customize AR System  by using overlays and custom objects. With overlays, you can customize out-of-the-box AR System server  objects. Overlays ensure that the customizations are not lost when an  AR System  application or server is upgraded. Overlays and custom objects protect any new functionality in your AR System  enabled application.

An overlay is a copy of an  AR System server  structure or workflow object that is used in place of the origin object. Custom objects are new objects, such as forms or fields, that you can create in the Best Practice Customization mode.

Customizations made to the base objects in Developer Studio base development mode are not preserved through upgrades.

The customization feature protects your business investment in customizations by:

• Protecting your customizations by enforcing best practice development in  Developer Studio
• Preserving customizations during upgrades of AR System server s, components, and applications
• Enabling you to find all your customizations quickly and easily

This section includes the following topics:

• Origin objects, custom objects, and overlays
• Creating custom objects
• Creating overlays to customize objects
• Working with overlays
• Working with custom objects
• Ignoring overlay and custom objects at runtime
• Hiding unmodified objects in Best Practice Customization mode
• Converting custom objects to origin objects
• Converting origin objects to custom objects
• How exporting and importing work with overlays and custom objects
• How auditing and archiving work with overlays and custom objects
• Comparing and reconciling objects using the Objects list

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