An ABL ProDataSet is an in-memory relational data object that can encapsulate one or more ABL temp-tables (sets of data rows) and any parent-child relationships among them. It also includes mechanisms to track changes, which facilitates synchronization with any data sources used to initialize it. In effect, a ProDataSet models a relational database, its entity relations, and its change state in memory. Because of the power and efficiency with which it can organize and communicate complex relational data, the ProDataSet is a primary mechanism for bundling and passing complex data within applications that conform to the OpenEdge Reference Architecture (OERA).

The Java Open Client allows you to pass ProDataSets as application service parameters by mapping them to an OpenEdge class, ProDataGraph. The ProDataGraph class implements and extends the DataGraph interface defined by Java Service Data Objects (Java SDO), an emerging standard for representing and managing complex relational data in Java applications. In addition to ProDataSets, you can also use the ProDataGraph class to pass temp-table parameters of an OpenEdge application service (in place of SQL ResultSet parameters used in Java Open Clients prior to OpenEdge Release 10.1A). Thus, you can use a Java Open Client to implement the presentation layer of an OpenEdge application that conforms to the OERA.

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