I have created a base business object which all of my BOs will inherit from.  This will handle among other thing, auditing user changes to data.  For each BO, I need to hold a list of AuditedFields so it know which fields it cares about changes on.  I have this working fine by using the same concept as the RequiredFields collection.  However, I would like for all fields to be checked by default instead of unchecked.  I have the following in the constructor of the base business object, which I thought would work:

If Me.AuditUserChanges And Me.AuditedFields.Count = 0 Then
  For Each field As String In Me.AllFieldsList.ToArray
    Dim AuditField As New RequiredField()
    AuditField.FieldType = Me.FieldDbTypes(field)
    AuditField.FieldName = field
    AuditedFields.Add(AuditField)
  Next
End If

So basically, I'm just saying if i'm auditing and haven't selected any fields to audit, go ahead and default to audit all of them by adding each field from the AllFieldsList to the AuditedFields collection.  The problem is that when I open any of the inherited BOs in the designer I get the following error message:

A class that inherits from MicroFour.StrataFrame.BusinessLayer must implement the AllFieldsList property.

Any idea what is going on here?  Am I just not using the AllFieldsList collection correctly here?  Is there a better way to accomplish what I'm trying to do?

Just to also note, this approach DOES work in code.  It defaults so that all fields are audited, however I cannot get to the collection in the designer so that I can uncheck the fields which I don't want audited.

Andria,

I think I know why this doesn't work in the constructor of your base BO, and that is because in the designer for your end BO will be

Public Overrides ReadOnly Property AllFieldsList() ...

So your end BO will use this property correctly in code, but when the constructor for your base BO runs it will try to use its own AllFieldsList which will not have been instantiated.

I don't have any suggestions to get around the problem, but I hope an understanding of the problem might help you find a solution.

Peter

Thanks for the clue, but you're right...it doesn't really help me fix it. 

Trent/Ben, can either of you shed some light on the proper way to do what I'm trying to accomplish??  Thanks!

We have actually gone down a completely different route, and what you are trying to write is something that will be within the framework within the next several updates.  The problem is adding too much logic on the BO side versus the DAL or SQL side.

But in regards to your problem, this sounds like an issue within inheritance and maybe where you are placing your logic.  The AllFieldsList gets created in the partial class through the BO Mapper.  So that is where that error is coming from.  Past that I guess I don't know if there is anything else you were wanting to know or if I missed something.  Let me know.

G'day

I have a further thought, that may provide what you want. If you were to cearte another constructor in your base class something like

Public Sub New (ByVal FieldList() As String)
MyBase.New() ' to call the Strataframe constructor
If Me.AuditUserChanges And Me.AuditedFields.Count = 0 Then
  For Each field As String In FieldList
    Dim AuditField As New RequiredField()
    AuditField.FieldType = Me.FieldDbTypes(field)
    AuditField.FieldName = field
    AuditedFields.Add(AuditField)
  Next
End If
End Sub

Then in your end class your constructor(s) would look something like

Public Sub New (...)
MyBase.New(Me.AllFieldsList.ToArray) ' calling the base constructor
...

Hope this is more helpful

Peter

I just noticed this post and I am getting the same error, I may have had it for awhile as I haven't been in the design surface of a BO in quite some time.

I have a Base BO which inherits from Business layer

Then a Inherited BO this inherits from Base BO

All business object then inherit from Inherited Bo

I found my problem. I had some code in the init component that checked the all field list

I don't know what your base BO looks like, but you will need to have at least this:

Double check your base BO to make sure that you have at least the constructors and are not calling anything that could cause a problem as design-time, and that you do not have a partial class with other properties, for example, that are getting in the way.  If you were to create this class above, and then inherit from it, you will not get the error you are describing.  I am not sure exactly how you are producing the error, but it will be along these lines.

I was posting the same time as you....yeah, that would make sense.  Glad you found it