Data types
Data types in the application data model
In order to handle cases, the Pega Platform application uses many different data types, which are collections of case data. Data types provide a way for developers to group a set of fields to describe a single object.
For example, an HR application has a new candidate case type when processing a new candidate. In order to process a new candidate, HR must collect basic information about the candidate, such as their employment history and criminal record information. Can describe a job candidate, including name, email address, home address and phone number. The candidate data type groups these fields to describe candidate fields. Similarly, a new candidate case has an employment history data type and a background check data type, which are used to describe the job applicant’s employment history and criminal record information.
The collection of case types and data types in the application defines the data model as a whole.
Data type structure
The data type consists of one or more single-valued fields, lists, or field groups. The field defines the data structure of the data type. The different fields together represent an object type. For example, the candidate data type may have 30 fields, including first name, last name, address, email, and phone number. In addition to grouping data elements, data types can also group other objects, such as views and other rules created by advanced developers.
数据类型可以引用其他数据类型。例如，候选数据类型可以具有在地址数据类型中定义的地址字段组。地址字段组可以包含街道名称、城市和邮政编码等字段。
数据类型是可以在应用程序中的任何地方使用的模板。例如，应用程序可能包含可以在两种情况下重用的通用帐户数据类型:一种允许客户在银行帐户之间转帐，另一种允许客户更改与其帐户相关联的地址。应用于不同大小写类型的字段包括帐号、当前余额和下一个语句日期，并保存为帐户数据类型。特定于每种情况类型的字段被保存为适当的专用数据类型。
Data type inheritance
You can reuse assets in existing data types by creating data types by inheritance. For example, Person is a general data type, or parent data type, while Customer and Call Center Representative (CCR) are more specialized data types. To express the relationship between the parent data type and the child data type, you can use the parent-child model, for example, Person-Customer and Person-CCR. All three data types have common fields, including name, phone, and email. By creating common fields in the Person data type, you can reuse these fields in the Customer and Call Center representative data types. The fields Tax Identification Number and Membership Number are only applicable to customers, so they are defined as customer data types. Because the field employee ID only applies to employees, you can define the field in the CCR data type.
On a specialized data type, you can view the fields of that data type and any fields they reuse from the parent data type.
Data type acquisition
You can source data types from the records of the Pega platform system locally or from the records of external systems. In addition, the data type can obtain data that you or the case participant entered or changed during application processing, and these data are not associated with any system of record.
Best practices for data types
Use the standard and commonly used data types provided by the Pega platform as much as possible, such as address-post and address-email. You can also add related data types to the application.
If the data type only partially meets your needs, you can extend the data type. For example, if you want to create an employee data type, you can extend the existing Person data type to create a Person-Employee data type.
If the appropriate data type does not yet exist, create a new data type. For example, if you want to add an airport code data type, but you cannot use or extend the existing data type, you can create a new data type in the Pega platform.
Note: The
feedback data type value is defined by Pega, so it is obtained by Pega.
Product and customer data types should use existing external legacy systems as sources.
The preference data type is useful for application display, but does not need to be saved outside of the feedback situation.