Cisco Field Manual: Catalyst Switch Configuration

Classes and objects act as the user interface to the physical columns in the data source. BusinessObjects provides three different types of objects (measures, dimensions, and details) to help users differentiate between types of information more easily. This chapter covered the basics of building different kinds of objects and highlighted some important design principles:

• Point dimension objects to look up tables.

• Always use SQL aggregates on measure objects.

• Sort dimension objects from biggest to smallest to facilitate drill down.

• Follow the four Cs in naming objects (customer-oriented, clear, consistent, concise).

• Ensure object types and data field types match the type in the physical database.

Following these principles will make your universe powerful yet ensure users consistently get correct results. In Chapters 9 and 10, you will add even more intelligence to the objects.