EOModel Bundle Format

Availability

Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.

An EOModel bundle contains property list representations of an EOModel object and its related objects. An EOModel object describes the mapping between classes, and tables and rows in a database. This article describes the files contained in the EOModel bundle, and the properties of objects that appear in these files. Each of the objects corresponds to a class in the Enterprise Object Framework (EOF). EOF applications load EOModel bundles to create the corresponding EOF objects at runtime.

An EOModel bundle is a directory containing specific files. The name of the directory is the name of the model with a .eomodeld suffix—for example, Movies.eomodeld is the directory name when Movies is the name of the model. In fact, tools should derive the name of the model from the name of the bundle.

The EOModel bundle contains the following files:

index.eomodeld—property list representation of an EOModel object. There is only one index.eomodeld file per bundle. See “EOModel” for a description of EOModel properties. This file is required.
<entityName>.plist—property list representation of an EOEntity object. There are zero or more entity files per bundle—one .plist file per entity listed in the index.eomodeld file. See “EOEntity” for a description of EOEntity properties.
<entityName>.fspec—property list representation of an array of EOFetchSpecification objects associated with an entity. There are zero or more fetch specification files per bundle—one .fspec file per entity as needed—and one or more EOFetchSpecification objects in a fetch specification file. See “EOFetchSpecification” for a description of EOFetchSpecification properties. If there are no fetch specifications for an entity, you are required to set the EOEntity fetchSpecificationDictionary key to an empty dictionary.
<entityName>.storedProcedure—property list representation of an EOStoredProcedure object associated with a model. There are zero or more stored procedure files per bundle—one .storedProcedure file per stored procedure listed in the corresponding index.eomodeld file. See the “EOModel” storedProcedures property and “EOStoredProcedure” for details.

The following rules apply to property lists in the EOModel bundle:

The contents of arrays appear in arbitrary order—they are not sorted.
Property lists may contain legacy keys that should be mapped to the respective new keys.
Tools do not need to save legacy keys when creating new files.
Model and entity names should not contain characters that cannot be used in a filename on file systems available on Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server. See http://developer.apple.com/technotes/tn/tn1150.html for description of allowable filenames.

Also see WebObjects 5.4 Reference for more details on the corresponding EOF classes described in this document. See http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd for a description of the property list format supported by EOF.

EOModel

Availability

Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.

An EOModel represents a mapping between a database schema and a set of classes based on the entity-relationship model for an application. The model contains a number of EOEntity objects representing the tables (entities) of the database schema. Each EOEntity object has a number of EOAttribute and EORelationship objects representing the properties (columns or fields) of the table (entity) in the database schema. In addition, EOEntity objects may have a number of EOFetchSpecification and EOStoredProcedure objects associated with them. EOEntityIndex objects are used to improve the performance of queries. Figure 1 depicts the relationship between EOModel and its components.

Figure 1 EOModel object diagram

An EOModel object is represented as a dictionary in an index.eomodeld file with the property keys listed in Table 1. All keys are optional unless stated otherwise.

**Table 1** EOModel dictionary keys
Key	Type	Description
`EOModelVersion`	`string`	The version number of this model. This key is required. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`adaptorName`	`string`	The name of the EOF adaptor used by this model—for example, `JDBC`. This key is required. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`connectionDictionary`	`dictionary`	A dictionary of key-value pairs used to connect to a database server—for example, initialize a JDBC or JNDI connection. See Table 2 for a description of these key-value pairs. This key is required. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`entities`	`array`	An array of entities belonging to this model, where entities are dictionary representations of EOEntity objects with just the `className` and `name` keys set. If the `className` property is not a fully qualified Java class name, then EOF assumes the class is in the `com.webobjects.eocontrol` package. If the `className` property is a Java class that is not defined in any Java or WebObjects package, then there needs to be a corresponding `<entityName>.plist` file. The `<entityName>.plist` file must have the same values set for the `className` and `name` keys that appear in this file. See “EOEntity” for a description of all entity properties. This key is required. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`entitiesWithSharedObjects`	`array`	An array of entity names that specifies the entities whose objects are loaded into the the shared editing context when the application launches. An entity name is the value of an EOEntity object’s `name` key. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`internalInfo`	`dictionary`	This dictionary is for internal use by an adaptor. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later. Deprecated in WebObjects 5.4.
`storedProcedures`	`array`	An array containing the names of all of the model’s stored procedures. See “EOStoredProcedure” for a description of stored procedure properties. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`userInfo`	`dictionary`	A dictionary of user data that an application can use to store any auxiliary information as needed. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`userDictionary`	`dictionary`	This key is deprecated. Use the `userInfo` key instead. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later. Deprecated in WebObjects 5.3.

Connection Dictionary

Table 2 lists the keys that appear in a model’s connection dictionary.

**Table 2** Connection dictionary keys
Key	Value
`username`	User name used to log in into the database. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`password`	Password used to log in into the database. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`URL`	The URL used to connect to the database of the form: `<adaptor type>:<adaptor plug-in>://<database host>/<database name>`. For example, set URL to `jdbc:openbase://127.0.0.1/WOMovies` to connect to the sample OpenBase Movies database. This key is required. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`driver`	The name of the database driver. (Not necessary for the adaptor plug-ins that ship with WebObjects.) Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`plugin`	The name of the database plug-in. (Not necessary for the adaptor plug-ins that ship with WebObjects.) Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`adaptorName`	The name of the database adaptor. For example, `JDBC` or `JNDI`. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.

EOEntity

Availability

Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.

An EOEntity describes a table in a database and associates a name internal to the Enterprise Objects Framework with an external name by which the table is known to the database. An EOEntity maintains a group of attributes and relationships, which are collectively called properties. These are represented by the EOAttribute and EORelationship classes, respectively.

An EOEntity object is represented as a dictionary in an <entityName>.plist file with the property keys show in Table 3. An EOEntity may have multiple EOEntityIndex and EOFetchSpecification objects described in “EOEntityIndex” and “EOFetchSpecification.”

**Table 3** EOEntity dictionary keys
Key	Type	Description
`attributes`	`array`	An array of attributes defining this entity where attributes are EOAttribute objects represented as dictionaries. See “EOAttribute” for a description of attribute properties. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`attributesUsedForLocking`	`array`	An array of attribute names that specifies the attributes that participate in optimistic locking. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`batchFaultingMaxSize`	`integer`	Integer greater than or equal to `0` that specifies the maximum size of batching. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`cachesObjects`	`Boolean`	Specifies whether or not the entire table is fetched into memory when the table is fetched. Caching an entity’s objects allows Enterprise Objects to evaluate queries in memory, thereby avoiding round trips to the data source. This is most useful for read-only entities where there is no danger of the cached data getting out of sync with the data in the data source. Set the value to `Y` to cache objects; otherwise, `N`. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`className`	`string`	The name of the class that corresponds to this entity. If you don’t define a custom enterprise object class for an entity, the class name defaults to EOGenericRecord. You should use a fully qualified name but this isn’t strictly required. This value should match the `className` value that appears in the `entities` array of the EModel dictionary described in Table 1. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`classProperties`	`array`	An array of attribute and relationship names that are accessible from instances of this entity. The corresponding class should provide key-value coding accessor methods for all class properties. (The EOGenericRecord class already supports key-value coding.) Any property not appearing in this array is hidden. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`entityIndexes`	`array`	EOEntityIndex objects that describe an optimization when searching on attributes. See “EOEntityIndex” for details. Available in WebObjects 5.4 and later.
`externalName`	`string`	The name of the table in the data source that corresponds to this entity. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`externalQuery`	`string`	Any valid SQL statement that you want executed when unqualified fetches are performed on this entity. See `EOQualifier` in WebObjects 5.4 Reference for details. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`fetchSpecificationDictionary`	`dictionary`	A dictionary representation of a fetch specification object associated with this entity. The dictionary is empty if this entity has no fetch specifications. This key is required if this entity has no fetch specifications. If this entity has one or more fetch specifications, then this key is omitted and a `<entityName>.fspec` file is used to represent an array of fetch specifications. See “EOFetchSpecification” for a description of EOFetchSpecification properties. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`internalInfo`	`dictionary`	This dictionary is for internal use by an adaptor. The dictionary may contain values for the `_javaClientClassName` and `_clientClassPropertyNames` keys where `_javaClientClassName` is a string and `_clientClassPropertyNames` is an array of attribute names. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later. Deprecated in WebObjects 5.4.
`isAbstractEntity`	`Boolean`	Specifies whether or not the entity is abstract . An abstract entity is one that has no corresponding enterprise objects (no object instances) in the application. Set the value to `Y` if this entity is abstract; otherwise, `N`. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`isReadOnly`	`Boolean`	Specifies whether the data that’s represented by this entity can be altered by an application. This does not lock objects at the database level but rather works at a higher level (in the `EODatabaseContext` class) so that if you try to save changes to data that’s marked as read only, Enterprise Objects refuses the save and throws an exception. Set the value to `Y` if this entity is read only; otherwise, `N`. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`maxNumberOfInstancesToBatchFetch`	`integer`	An integer greater than or equal to `0` that specifies the number of records—instances of this entity—fetched in each batch. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`name`	`string`	The name an application uses for this entity. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`parent`	`string`	The parent of this entity, when using inheritance. Must be the name of an EOEntity object. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`primaryKeyAttributes`	`array`	An array of attribute names that are part of this entity’s primary key. (Multiple attributes can represent a primary key.) Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`restrictingQualifier`	`string`	Used to restrict the records that are fetched for this entity. When you add a qualifier to an entity, it invokes a fetch for that entity to retrieve objects only of the type specified by the qualifier. The value is a format string for an EOQualifier object. See `EOQualifier` in WebObjects 5.4 Reference for the format of this string. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`relationships`	`array`	An array of dictionaries where each dictionary is a representation of an EORelationship object. See Table 11 for a description of relationship properties. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`sharedObjectFetchSpecificationNames`	`array`	An array of fetch specification names. When this EOModel is loaded, the named fetch specifications are fetched against this entity at application launch time and all fetched records are put in the application's EOSharedEditingContext instance. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`userInfo`	`dictionary`	A dictionary of user data that an application can use to store any auxiliary information as needed. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`mappingQualifier`	`string`	This key is deprecated. Use the `restrictingQualifier` key instead. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later. Deprecated in WebObjects 5.3.
`isFetchable`	`Boolean`	This key is deprecated. Use the `isAbstractEntity` key instead. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later. Deprecated in WebObjects 5.3.
`userDictionary`	`dictionary`	This key is deprecated. Use the `userInfo` key instead. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later. Deprecated in WebObjects 5.3.

EOEntityIndex

Availability

Available in WebObjects 5.4 and later.

An EOEntityIndex object describes an optimization when searching on attributes. For object stores that do not maintain their own automatic attribute index—typically, SQL databases—the EOEntityIndex object specifies the index the object store should maintain to optimize queries. Using entity indexes to improve performance is optional.

**Table 4** EOEntityIndex dictionary keys
Key	Type	Description
`attributes`	`array`	An array of attribute names defining this entity index. An attribute name is a string that correspond to the value of the name property of an EOAttribute object. This property is required. Available in WebObjects 5.4 and later.
`constraint`	`string`	Enumerated value specifying the constraints of the query. Possible values are described in Table 5. The behavior of this setting depends on the database used. Available in WebObjects 5.4 and later.
`indexType`	`string`	Type of index to create. Possible values are described in Table 6. Available in WebObjects 5.4 and later.
`name`	`string`	Unique name for this entity index. Available in WebObjects 5.4 and later.
`order`	`string`	The order of the attributes. Possible values are `asc` for ascending order and `asc` for descending order. These values are case insensitive. Available in WebObjects 5.4 and later.
`userInfo`	`Dictionary`	A dictionary of user data that an application can use to store any auxiliary information as needed. Available in WebObjects 5.4 and later.

Table 5 describes the possible values for the constraint attribute of an EOEntityIndex object. The values are case insensitive.

**Table 5** constraint attribute values
Value	Description
`distinct`	Creates a constraint such that all values in the index must be distinct. An error occurs if you try to add a new row with a key value that matches an existing row. This constraint does not apply to `NULL` values.
`fulltext`	Allows full-text searches in the database. Full-text searches can be created only for character-based or string-based attributes.
`spatial`	Supports OpenGIS geometry SQL extensions.

Table 6 describes the possible values for the indexType attribute of an EOEntityIndex object. The values are case insensitive.

**Table 6** indexType attribute values
Value	Description
clustered	The database stores together rows having the same cluster key value. Each distinct cluster key value is stored only once in each data block, regardless of the number of tables and rows in which it occurs. This saves disk space and improves performance for many database operations.
hashed	The database stores together rows that have the same hash key value. The hash value for a row is the value returned by the cluster's hash function. When you create a hash cluster, you can either specify a hash function or use the database internal hash function. Hash values are not actually stored in the cluster, although cluster key values are stored for every row in the cluster.

EOAttribute

Availability

Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.

An EOAttribute represents a column, field, or property in a database table (entity) and associates an internal name with an external name or expression by which the property is known to the database. The property an EOAttribute represents may be a meaningful value, such as a salary or a name, or it may be an arbitrary value used for identification but with no real-world applicability (ID numbers and foreign keys for relationships fall into this category). An EOAttribute also maintains type information for binding values to the instance variables of objects. In addition, EOAttributes are used to represent arguments for EOStoredProcedures.

A dictionary representation of an EOAttribute contains the keys shown in Table 7.

**Table 7** EOAttribute dictionary keys
Attribute	Type	Description
`adaptorValueConversionClassName`	`string`	The name of the Java class used at runtime to invoke the conversion method. This value is optional. By default, the attribute value class is used. Available in WebObjects 5.4 and later.
`adaptorValueConversionMethodName`	`string`	The name of a method that is used at runtime to convert a custom class into one of the primitive types that the adaptor knows how to manipulate: `String`, `Number`, `NSData`, or `NSTimestamp`. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`allowsNull`	`Boolean`	Specifies whether or not this attribute can have a `null` value. A save operation fails if an enterprise object has a `null` value for an attribute that does not allow a `null` value. Set the value to `Y` if this attribute allows a `null` value; otherwise, `N`. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`className`	`string`	The fully qualified Java class name of the attribute—for example, `java.lang.String`. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`columnName`	`string`	The name of the column in the data source that corresponds to this attribute. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`definition`	`string`	A key path that represents a flattened attribute from another entity. For example, if the Media entity has a to-one relationship to Event, and Event has a `startDate` attribute, you can add a `startDate` attribute to Media and specify `event.startDate` as the definition. Consequently, `startDate` in Media will be the same as `startDate` in Event. Required if this is a flattened attribute; otherwise, optional. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`externalType`	`string`	The data type of the attribute as it’s understood by the data source. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`factoryMethodArgumentType`	`string`	The type of argument that should be passed to the factory method that is invoked by this EOAttribute object to create an attribute value for a custom class. Possible values areval `EOFactoryMethodArgumentIsBytes`, `EOFactoryMethodArgumentIsData`, and `EOFactoryMethodArgumentIsString`. See `EOAttribute` in WebObjects 5.4 Reference for details. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later. Value of `EOFactoryMethodArgumentIsNSString` is deprecated in WebObjects 5.4.
`internalInfo`	`dictionary`	This dictionary is for internal use by an adaptor. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later. Deprecated in WebObjects 5.4.
`isReadOnly`	`Boolean`	Specifies whether or not the value of this attribute can be modified. Set the value to `Y` if this attribute is read only; otherwise, `N`. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`name`	`string`	The name of this attribute as it appears in an application and in the enterprise objects. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`precision`	`integer`	An integer greater than or equal to `0` that indicates the precision of the database representation of attributes with a numeric type—for example, `Number` or `java.math.BigDecimal`. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`prototypeName`	`string`	A prototype attribute from which this attribute derives its characteristics. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`readFormat`	`string`	A format string used to appropriately format this attribute's value when it is read from the database. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`scale`	`integer`	Indicates the scale of the database representation for attributes with a numeric type—for example, `Number` or `java.math.BigDecimal`. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`serverTimeZone`	`string`	The time zone assumed for dates in the database server, or the local time zone if one hasn't been set. An EOAdaptorChannel automatically converts dates between the time zones used by the server and the client when fetching and saving values. This property applies only to attributes that represent dates. See the Java documentation for the TimeZone for details. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`userInfo`	`dictionary`	A dictionary of user data that an application can use to store any auxiliary information as needed. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`valueClassName`	`string`	This key is deprecated. Use the `className` key instead. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later. Deprecated in WebObjects 5.3.
`valueFactoryMethodName`	`string`	The name of the factory method used for creating a custom class value. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`valueType`	`string`	The format for custom value types—for example, `i` or `d`, which the JDBC adaptor uses to communicate with the data source. See “Setting Value Types” for possible values. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`width`	`integer`	An integer greater than or equal to `0` that indicates the maximum length (in bytes) for values mapped to this attribute. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`writeFormat`	`string`	A format string used to format this attribute's value for writing to the database. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`updateFormat`	`string`	This key is deprecated. Use the `writeFormat` key instead. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later. Deprecated in WebObjects 5.3.
`insertFormat`	`string`	This key is deprecated. Use the `writeFormat` key instead. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later. Deprecated in WebObjects 5.3.
`selectFormat`	`string`	This key is deprecated. Use the `readFormat` key instead. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later. Deprecated in WebObjects 5.3.
`externalName`	`string`	This key is deprecated. Use the `columnName` key instead. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later. Deprecated in WebObjects 5.3.
`userDictionary`	`dictionary`	This key is deprecated. Use the `userInfo` key instead. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later. Deprecated in WebObjects 5.3.
`maximumLength`	`integer`	This key is deprecated. Use the `width` key instead. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later. Deprecated in WebObjects 5.3.

Setting Value Types

Table 8 describes the possible numeric value types for the EOAttribute valueType attribute.

**Table 8** Numeric value types
Value	Type
B	`java.math.BigDecimal`
b	`java.lang.Byte`
c	`java.lang.Boolean`
d	`java.lang.Double`
f	`java.lang.Float`
i	`java.lang.Integer`
l	`java.lang.Long`
s	`java.lang.Short`

Table 9 describes the possible string value types for the EOAttribute valueType attribute.

**Table 9** String value types
Value	Type	Description
	unknown	The JDBC adaptor uses `setString` if the text is less than the database’s advertised maximum `varchar` length and uses `setCharacterStream` if it is too large. If the database fails to advertise a maximum length, the default is `256` characters.
C	char stream	The JDBC adaptor uses `setCharacterString` regardless of the text’s length.
c	char trim string	The JDBC adaptor generates SQL using RTRIM to strip off all trailing spaces.
E	encoded bytes	The JDBC adaptor converts the text into raw UTF-8 bytes and then uses `setBinaryStream` to save them in a binary-typed column in the database.
S	string	The JDBC adaptor uses `setString` regardless of the text’s length.

Table 10 describes the possible value types for the EOAttribute valueType attribute when the value class is NSTimestamp.

**Table 10** Timestamp value types
Value	Type	Description
	unknown	The JDBC adaptor uses `getObject` on the `java.sql.ResultSet` object and `setObject` on the `java.sql.PreparedStatement` object. It assumes the database can provide a value compatible with a `java.sql.Timestamp` object.
D	`java.util.Date`	The JDBC adaptor uses `setDate` and `getDate`.
M	coerce date	Use this in place of D if using Microsoft SQL Server. Supports only `java.sql.Date`.
t	`java.sql.Time`	The JDBC adaptor uses `getTime` and `setTime`.
T	`java.sql.Timestamp`	The JDBC adaptor uses `getTimestamp` and `setTimestamp`.

EORelationship

Availability

Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.

An EORelationship object describes an association between two entities, based on attributes of those two entities. If you define relationships in an EOModel, the relationships defined in the database are automatically resolved as enterprise objects are fetched—the target objects of relationships are fetched along with the source objects.

A dictionary representation of an EORelationship object contains the keys show in Table 11.

**Table 11** EORelationship dictionary keys
Attribute	Type	Description
`definition`	`string`	A key path that represents a flattened relationship from another entity. Required if this is a flattened relationship; otherwise, optional. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`deleteRule`	`string`	The rule to use when the source object of a relationship is deleted. The options are nullify, cascade, deny, or no action as described in Table 12. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`destination`	`string`	The name of an entity that is the destination of this relationship. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`internalInfo`	`dictionary`	This dictionary is for internal use by an adaptor. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later. Deprecated in WebObjects 5.4.
`isMandatory`	`Boolean`	Indicates whether or not this relationship is mandatory. Enterprise Objects will not save an enterprise object that does not have all mandatory relationships set. Set the value to `Y` if this relationship is mandatory; otherwise, `N`. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`isToMany`	`Boolean`	Indicates whether this relationship is to-many or to-one. A to-many relationship has multiple targets or destination objects, and a to-one relationship has a single target. Set the value to `Y` if the relationship is to-many; otherwise, `N`. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`joinSemantic`	`string`	Specifies the join semantics of this relationship. Note that not all join semantics are supported by all database servers. See Table 13 for a description of join semantics. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`joins`	`array`	An array of dictionaries representing joins. Each dictionary contains a `sourceAttribute` and `destinationAttribute` key where `sourceAttribute`, an attribute belonging to the source object, is joined with `destinationAttribute`, an attribute belonging to the destination object. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`name`	`string`	The name of this relationship as it appears in an application and in the enterprise objects. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`numberOfToManyFaultsToBatchFetch`	`integer`	An integer greater than or equal to `0` that indicates the number of to-many faults that are triggered at one time. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`ownsDestination`	`Boolean`	Indicates whether or not this relationship’s source owns its destination objects. When a source object owns its destination objects, the destination objects are removed from the database when the source object is removed. Ownership implies that an owned object cannot exist without its owner. Set the value to `Y` if this relationship owns its destination object; otherwise, `N`. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`propagatesPrimaryKey`	`Boolean`	Specifies whether or not the primary key of the source entity is propagated to newly inserted objects in the destination of the relationship. That is, when inserting objects that are the destination of the relationship, this option suppresses primary key generation for the destination entity and instead uses the source object’s primary key as the primary key for the newly inserted destination object. (Typically, for convenience, you propagate the primary key when the source object owns the destination object.) Set the value to `Y` if the relationship propagates the primary key; otherwise, `N`. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`userInfo`	`dictionary`	A dictionary of user data that an application can use to store any auxiliary information as needed. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`dataPath`	`string`	This key is deprecated. Use the `definition` key instead. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later. Deprecated in WebObjects 5.3.
`userDictionary`	`dictionary`	This key is deprecated. Use the `userInfo` key instead. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later. Deprecated in WebObjects 5.3.

Table 12 lists the delete values that can be specified for the deleteRule keys. The values are case insensitive.

**Table 12** Delete rules
Rule	Description
`EODeleteRuleNullify`	All destination objects are disassociated from the source object by removing references to them. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`EODeleteRuleCascade`	All objects that are the destination of this relationship are deleted. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`EODeleteRuleDeny`	If there are any destination objects in this relationship, refuses the deletion. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`EODeleteRuleNoAction`	The destination object is deleted but not back references to the source object. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.

Table 13 lists the join semantics that can be specified for the joinSemantic keys.

**Table 13** Join semantics
Semantic	Description
`EOInnerJoin`	Results are given only for destinations of the join relationship that have values other than `null`. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`EOFullOuterJoin`	Results are given for all source records, regardless of the values of the relationships. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`EOLeftOuterJoin`	Results preserve rows in the left (source) table, keeping them even if there's no corresponding row in the right table. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`EORightOuterJoin`	Results preserve rows in the right (destination) table. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.

EOFetchSpecification

Availability

Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.

An EOFetchSpecification object collects the criteria needed to select and order a group of records or enterprise objects, whether from an external repository such as a relational database or an internal store such as an EOEditingContext object.

A dictionary representation of an EOFetchSpecification object contains the keys shown in Table 14.

**Table 14** EOFetchSpecification dictionary keys
Attribute	Type	Description
`entityName`	`string`	The name of the entity to be fetched. This key is required. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`fetchLimit`	`integer`	An integer greater than or equal to `0` indicating the maximum number of objects to fetch. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`hints`	`dictionary`	A dictionary of hints that an EODatabaseContext or other object can use to optimize or alter the results of a fetch. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`isDeep`	`Boolean`	Specifies whether or not this fetch specification is deep—if the fetch should include subentities of this entity. Set the value to `Y` if this fetch specification is deep; otherwise, `N`. By default, fetch specifications are deep. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`locksObjects`	`Boolean`	Specifies whether or not this fetch specification locks objects. Set the value to `Y` if this fetch specification locks objects; otherwise, `N`. By default, fetch specifications do not lock objects. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`prefetchingRelationshipKeyPaths`	`array`	An array of key paths that identifies relationships that should be fetched along with the objects specified by this fetch specification. For example, when fetching Listing objects, you can pre-fetch associated `listingFeatures` and `suggestedCustomers` relationships. This tells Enterprise Objects to retrieve`listedFeatures` and `suggestedCustomers` relationships along with the Listing itself, as opposed to creating faults for the objects in those relationships. Although prefetching increases the initial fetch cost, it can improve overall performance by reducing the number of round trips made to the data source. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`promptsAfterFetchLimit`	`Boolean`	Specifies how Enterprise Objects should behave when the fetch limit is reached. If `Y`, the user is prompted about whether to continue fetching after the maximum has been reached. Otherwise, Enterprise Objects simply stops fetching when it reaches the limit. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`qualifier`	`string`	A formatted string for an EOQualifier object that indicates which records or objects the fetch specification should fetch. See `EOQualifier` in WebObjects 5.4 Reference for the format of this string. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`rawRowKeyPaths`	`array`	An array of attribute key paths that should be fetched as raw data and returned as an array of dictionaries (instead of the normal result of objects). Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`refreshesRefetchedObjects`	`Boolean`	A Boolean value of `Y` specifies that existing objects affected by this fetch specification should be overwritten with newly fetched values after they are updated or changed. If `N`, objects don’t refresh—existing objects aren’t updated when their data is refetched (the fetched data is simply discarded). Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`requiresAllQualifierBindingVariables`	`Boolean`	Specifies whether a missing value for a qualifier variable is ignored or whether Enterprise Objects requires that each qualifier variable have a value assigned to it. If `Y`, an exception is thrown during variable substitution if a missing value is present. If `N`, any qualifier expressions for which there are no variable bindings are pruned from the qualifier. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`sortOrderings`	`array`	An array of attribute names used to sort the destination objects of this relationship when fetched from the database The attributes must be attributes of the destination object and are applied in the order as they appear in this array. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`usesDistinct`	`Boolean`	Specifies whether or not duplicate destination objects in a to-many relationship are removed after fetching. Set the value to `Y` if duplicate objects should be removed; otherwise, `N`. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.

EOStoredProcedure

Availability

Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.

An EOStoredProcedure dictionary contains the keys listed in Table 15.

**Table 15** EOStoredProcedure dictionary keys
Attribute	Type	Description
`name`	`string`	The name of this stored procedure as it is defined in the EOModel object. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`externalName`	`string`	The external name of this stored procedure that is used by the database. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`userInfo`	`dictionary`	A dictionary of user data that an application can use to store any auxiliary information as needed. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.
`internalInfo`	`dictionary`	This dictionary is for internal use by an adaptor. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later. Deprecated in WebObjects 5.4.
`arguments`	`array`	An array of attribute names that are the arguments for this stored procedure. Available in WebObjects 5.0 and later.

Last updated: 2008-11-19

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