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  • 1.  TMF633 Resource and ResourceRef in General

    Posted Jul 03, 2019 09:59
    Edited by D Basu`` Jul 04, 2019 00:24
    It doesn't seem to be explicitly mentioned in the TMF633 spec 18.5, whether a ServiceCategoryRef is a reference to actual ServiceCategory.  

    If Yes, then ServiceCategoryRef can be treated as transient representation of actual ServiceCategory Persistent entity, whenever needed. e.g. In RDBMS representation, ServiceCategory can have a FK(or mapping as needed by UC) to ServiceCatalog entity. However when the ServiceCatalog is fetched, the response would contain the <servicecategoryref> fields and omit the other ServiceCategory fields, which can be a on-the-fly transformation. </servicecategoryref>
    Or
    ServiceCategoryRef and ServiceCategory are 2 independent persistent entities? In that case we need to keep both the entities at-sync all the time; in other words their lifecycle is same?

    The `href` attribute sample values suggest they both belong to different namespace as mentioned below :
    1. Servicecatalog.category is a ServiceCategoryRef[] and each ServiceCategoryRef is available at /tmf-api/serviceCatalogManagement/v4/category
    2. ServiceCategory is available at /tmf-api/serviceCatalogManagement/v4/serviceCategory
    If they both represent the same entity, can we include `@referredType` in the sample representation(s)?
    If they don't, which API describes the `category` namespace? Does it relate to ServiceCategory?

    It'd be really helpful to be advised on the above.
     
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    Thanks,
    D Basu
    Architect
    India
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  • 2.  RE: TMF633 Resource and ResourceRef in General

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Jul 04, 2019 06:42
    The <Entity>Ref pattern allows one entity to refer to another entity, without having to include in its schema all the details of the second entity.
    For example, a ProductOffering exposes a ProductSpecification for sale. Many ProductOfferings can potentially sell the same ProductSpecification, so the specification is included in the offering by reference, viz. ProductSpecificationRef
    The <Entity>Ref contains a strict subset of the attributes of the <Entity>, typically only id, href, and name.
    The pattern is described in the Design Guidelines, see https://projects.tmforum.org/wiki/display/PUB/TMF630+API+Design+Guidelines+3.0+R17.5.1 (part 2, chapter 5).
    Hope it helps.

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    Jonathan Goldberg
    Amdocs Management Limited
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