Beans in Maximo at 10:16

Question: What are beans in IBM Maximo

The information provided in this post is based on my Maximo 6 experience. I don't know if or to which extent it has changed in Maximo 7.
Answer
There are 2 types of Beans in IBM Maximo, AppBean and DataBean.

AppBean
The AppBean manage application functionality, such as WOTRACK or ASSET. This class is defined in the beanclass attribute of the presentation tag in the application's XML.

If you export the WOTRACK application xml and go to the bottom of the file you can see a group of actions (action tag) defining actions and their corresponding method in the AppBean beanclass.

For instance if you'd like to add a button on WOTRACK to approve a workorder (OOTB in Maximo 7 but not in 6) besides of creating the SIGOPTION and TOOLBAR records for that operation you'd also have to develop custom Java code for it, this would be done in the AppBean. 

DataBean

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Data Beans can manage both dialog boxes and tables. The DataBean class associated is defined in the beanclass attribute of both the dialog and table tags in the application's XML.

For instance, on dialog boxes you can use a DataBean to control what to do when the OK button is pressed (submit() method).

On tables you can do things such as custom the way to load the MBOSet on that table (getMboSet() method).

You have to have in mind that the flow control of the dialog's execution is quite complex. For instance, if you don't provide a submit() method on your dialog's bean class, Maximo will try executing other methods and will end up executing the execute() (I think this is the method) method of the MBOSet asociated with your dialog (defined with the mboname attribute of the dialog tag).