Step 3: Define Models

Now we have created the application project and a module, it’s time to add some functionality to it. In this chapter, we’ll see how to add new domain models (data entities).

Define a domain entity

The Axelor Open Platform uses xml definitions to define the data models. The code generator than generates JPA compatible Java POJO classes with some additional helper methods and meta data used by the framework for UI purpose.

Let’s create some address book objects:

We can define multiple models in single xml file but it’s recommended to create separate xml file for each model, this allows the build system to re-generate code for only modified files.
axelor-contact/src/main/resources/domains/Title.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<domain-models xmlns="http://axelor.com/xml/ns/domain-models"
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://axelor.com/xml/ns/domain-models
  https://axelor.com/xml/ns/domain-models/domain-models_7.0.xsd">

  <module name="contact" package="com.axelor.contact.db"/>

  <entity name="Title">
    <string name="code" required="true" unique="true" min="2" />
    <string name="name" required="true" unique="true" min="2" />
  </entity>

</domain-models>
axelor-contact/src/main/resources/domains/Address.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<domain-models xmlns="http://axelor.com/xml/ns/domain-models"
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://axelor.com/xml/ns/domain-models
  https://axelor.com/xml/ns/domain-models/domain-models_7.0.xsd">

  <module name="contact" package="com.axelor.contact.db" />

  <entity name="Address">
    <many-to-one name="contact" ref="Contact" required="true" />
    <string name="street" required="true" max="255" />
    <string name="area" max="255" />
    <string name="city" />
    <string name="zip" />
    <string name="state" />
    <string name="country" />
  </entity>

</domain-models>
axelor-contact/src/main/resources/domains/Contact.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<domain-models xmlns="http://axelor.com/xml/ns/domain-models"
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://axelor.com/xml/ns/domain-models
  https://axelor.com/xml/ns/domain-models/domain-models_7.0.xsd">

  <module name="contact" package="com.axelor.contact.db"/>

  <entity name="Contact">
    <many-to-one name="title" ref="Title"/> (1)
    <string name="firstName" required="true" /> (2)
    <string name="lastName" required="true" />

    <string name="fullName" namecolumn="true" search="firstName,lastName"> (3)
    <![CDATA[
    if (firstName == null && lastName == null) {
        return null;
    }
    if (title == null) {
        return firstName + " " + lastName;
    }
    return title.getName() + " " + firstName + " " + lastName;
    ]]></string>

    <date name="dateOfBirth" />

    <string name="email" required="true" unique="true" max="100" />
    <string name="phone" max="20" massUpdate="true" />
    <string name="notes" title="About me" large="true" />

    <one-to-many name="addresses" ref="Address" mappedBy="contact" /> (4)

    <finder-method name="findByName" using="fullName" /> (5)
    <finder-method name="findByEmail" using="email" />
  </entity>
</domain-models>
1 define a many-to-one field title
2 define a string field firstName
3 define a calculated string field fullName
4 define a one-to-many field addresses
5 define a custom finder method findByName

A domain model is defined using <entity> tag, it supports some attributes.

  • cacheable - whether to make this entity cacheable

  • sequential - whether to use a new ID sequence

  • repository=[none|default|abstract] - how to generate repository class

And we define model fields as the child nodes. Following fields are supported:

Field type Description

string

String type field

integer

Integer type field

long

Long type field

decimal

Decimal type field (BigDecimal)

boolean

Boolean type field

date

Date type field (uses LocalDate)

time

Time type field (uses LocalTime)

datetime

DateTime type field (uses LocalDateTime)

enum

Enumeration type field

binary

Binary type field

many-to-one

The ManyToOne field

one-to-many

The OneToMany field

many-to-many

The ManyToMany field

one-to-one

The OneToOne field

Each field type supports some attributes. Here are few of them:

Attribute Description

name

name of the field

title

display name of the field (used by UI layer)

help

help string (used by UI layer)

column

database column name

required

whether the field is required

unique

whether the field is unique

readonly

whether the field is readonly (used by UI layer)

hidden

whether the field is hidden (used by UI layer)

min

minimum size of data (depends on field type)

max

maximum size of data (depends on field type)

index

whether to generate index on this field

transient

whether the field is transient

initParam

whether the field can be used for a contructor

equalsInclude

whether the field is included in equality test

massUpdate

whether to allow mass update on this field

formula

sql formula if this is a formula field

ref

referenced object (relational fields)

mappedBy

used with bi-directional relation fields to name the reverse field

orphanRemoval

whether to remove orphaned records if parent record is deleted

large

whether the string field should use large type (text or clob)

The code generator also generates a repository class per model. The repository class provides methods for CRUD operations and some finder methods.

The code generator can be invoked with following command.

$ ./gradlew generateCode

However, the build task or any other tasks that requires compiled classes automatically invokes the generateCode task.

For more details and advanced features on the object definition, please see the Developer Guide.

What’s Next?

In this chapter we have seen how to create domain models. In the next chapter we will see how to define views for the model entities.