Fetching Mbo Sets using RelationShip or MXServer - Automation script Examples

I would like to draw your attention towards one important thing which we keep using in our java codes or Jython scripts but we do not use them properly. This is about getMboSet() method. As we are aware there are two ways of fetching an Mbo set, either by using a relationship or MXServer. Improper use of this may lead to performance issues, poor memory management, etc.

For example, I am working with save event of Object launch point on WORKODER object. I need to set a value in all related tasks which are in approved status. There is a relationship between WORKORDER object and WOACTIVITY object which can give me the set of all related tasks of the workorder which are in approved status. It will be easier for me to use this relationship to fetch the WOACTIVITY records. Please keep in mind that when I am accessing the Mbo records using a relationship, it is included in the same transaction as the parent Mbo Set and if I call a save on the parent Mbo Set, all MboSets in the current transaction will be saved. So, the Mbo sets fetched using relationship do not require save to be called explicitly because their save is called when their parent is saved.

In the above code snippet, I can also use a setWhere clause to specifically select some of the records, this new where clause will be appended with the existing where clause of the relationship and you will have to call a reset() method to execute and update the resultset obtained using the relationship. 

Above script will save the WORKORDER records and the related WOACTIVITY records in the current transaction.

Let us consider that the relationship from WORKORDER object to WOACTIVITY does not exist which may satisfy the search criteria we are looking for. In this case, we can create one on the fly as below: 

The parameter “$WOTASK” is a temporary relationship name, “WOACTIVITY” is the child object, and “parent=:wonum and siteid=:siteid and istask=1 and status=’APPR’ and targcompdate is not null” is the relationship where clause. The values of :wonum and :siteid will be taken from the current Mbo record from WORKORDER object.

While fetching MboSets from MXServer, we have to be careful about a few things.

1. Always use setWhere() and reset() methods with this MboSet. The setWhere() method will reduce the number of Mbo records being fetched and reset() method will ensure fetching of data with the where clause.
2. If the Mbo set is being fetched only for traversing and not for any addition or update, it is a best practice to set the DISCARDABLE flag as true. If the Mbo set is being fetched for read-only purpose it is a good practice to set the NOSAVE flag as true. These steps will shorten the looping time of the transaction.
3. If any setValue method is used for some Mbo record of the MboSet, or any add or update is being done on the Mbo set, it is required to call the save() method on the set. Mbo sets fetched from MXServer needs to be saved before the set is closed otherwise the changes will be lost.
4. Always use clear() and close() methods on the Mbo set fetched using MXServer if it is not required anymore. This will release memory and the database resources

Let us consider one example. Every Saturday, we need to run an escalation to update the actual cost of all issue transactions of active inventory records of all capitalized items that have happened between last Monday and Friday. We have written an escalation to run every Saturday on Inventory Object which calls an Action. Keeping in mind all the above rules, this action logic is written in an automation script with Action launch point, below is the sample source code of the script.

The Powerful Dot Notation in Maximo

We are familiar with displaying additional information through a relationship in Maximo. If I want to display the asset's serial number in Work Order Tracking application when the asset field is populated, I just have to add a textbox in Application Designer for WOTRACK application and reference the RELATIONSHIPNAME.ATTRIBUTENAME in the attribute property of the textbox. For the WORKORDER object, there exists an OOB relationship "ASSET" to the child table ASSET. So, I need to simply use ASSET.SERIALNUM in the attribute property of the textbox. When an asset is entered in the Work Order record, this textbox will display the serial number.

Maximo relationships are same in terms of SQL joins and we are aware that even multilevel relationships can be used in Maximo. For example, if I have to send a notification to the affected person from a Service Request once it is created. In the communication template for this notification, I can specify a dataset role on SR object, in which value will be :AFFECTEDPERSON.EMAIL.emailaddress. AFFECTEDPERSON is the first level relationship name from parent object TICKET to child object PERSON and EMAIL is the next level relationship name from parent object PERSON to child object EMAIL. This will help is identifying the email address to which notification should be sent.

If we need to set a value in a field from a related field on some condition, we can use the dot notation here too. We have to set the value of the purchase agent of a PO with the value of the ship to person. We can create an action on PO object of type SETVALUE for parameter/attribute PUCHASEAGENT and in the value we can associate the ship to person ID using :SHIPTOPERSON.personid, where SHIPTOPERSON is the relationship name from parent object PO to child object PERSON. We can now reference this action from either a workflow or escalation whichever is applicable.

We can use the dot notation in building conditions also in Conditional expression manager. For example, a condition can be created to check if the bin number in related inventory balances record is same as default bin of inventory record, :invbalances.binnum = :binnum, where INVBALANCES is the relationship from parent object INVENTORY to child object INVBALANCES.

In recent times, we have also seen the extension of this powerful dot notation to result set portlets. I have tried this in Maximo 7.6. I create an object structure "REP_INVENTORY" for reporting purpose as below:

Then I go to Report Administration application and from more actions, I select "Set Report Object Structure Security". Provide access to MAXADMIN security group for the above object structure as below:

Now, in the Inventory application say you have created a query to display the inventory records of the logged in user, "Inventory of User Storeroom". If you want to set up a new result set in some existing start center, when you select to edit the portlet, you will be able to select the application, query and the object structure created above. And, you will be able to see the child table(s) along with the parent table under Object List.

When you select the attributes from the child table, you can see the <RELATIONSHIPNAME>.<ATTRIBUTENAME> in selected fields.

Once you save and finish the result set portlet setup, you will be able to see the resultset as below:

Recently I read an interesting blog about one more power packed feature of using this dot notation. I could not resist myself in trying that out and yes, it is worth mentioning about. You can use this relationshipname.attributename in cross-over domain's source and destination fields. Let us consider an example. We create a custom attribute in TICKET object, which is say, CUSTAPPROVER. In this field in Service Requests application, we need to display the supervisor of the supervisor of the affected person. So, we create a cross over domain as per the image below, which we associate with the CUSTAPPROVER attribute in TICKET object.

Hope you like reading this blog and your suggestions/comments are most welcome.

References:

https://www-304.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21508596

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21980423
https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/blogs/a9ba1efe-b731-4317-9724-a181d6155e3a/entry/the_hidden_feature_of_crossover_domain?lang=en