Business Patterns of Association Objects

By: L.L. Boyd
Published in: PLoPD3
Pages: 395-408

Association objects represent something that happens at a point in time and have attributes inherent in the relationship (e.g., date, time, or cost) that change when a new association is formed.

Category: Analysis

Summary: Association objects represent something that happens at a point in time and have attributes inherent in the relationship (e.g., date, time, or cost) that change when a new association is formed.

Url: http://www.riehle.org/BusinessPatterns/AssocObjects.html

Pattern: Association Object

Pages: 396-399

In business systems, static objects represent tangible things in the real world. How can the associations between these objects be identified? Define association objects with the date and time of the association. Association objects are needed if the association has behavior of its own over time.

Category: Analysis

• Coad's Timed Association, Associative Type, and Historic Mapping are examples of this pattern [Coad95]

Pattern: Customer Contact

Pages: 399-401

Use an object to represent an association between the business and the customer.

Category: Analysis

• This pattern is a variation of Association Object and Coad's Event Logging [Coad95]

Pattern: 3-Level Order

Pages: 401-406

Many business systems are driven by the concept of an order. During the analysis phase, to create a simple order structure that still allows maximum flexibility, consider an order to be a series of association objects. Separate order responsibilities into a 3-level structure: rules, receivables, and costs.

Category: Analysis, Order Management