Entities can have actions in the Business Data Catalog. Actions bridge the gap between Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and a native application user interface by providing a link back to the back-end data source. You can use Business Data Actions to build applications with write-back scenarios, such as a Customer Profile view that allows a user to update profile information directly in SAP. Actions are implemented as links, so you can also use actions to perform simple actions such as send e-mail messages or open a customer's home page.

Actions travel everywhere with an entity. That is, after you define an action for an entity, the action appears everywhere you display that entity—be it in a Business Data Web Part or in a Business Data column.

 Example

Xml

<!--Action as a simple link-- >
<Actions>
   <Action Name="Search product on MSN" Position="1" IsDisplayed="true" 
   IsOpenedInNewWindow="true" 
   Url="http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?&amp;q={0}" ImageUrl="">
      <ActionParameters>
         <ActionParameter Name="Name" Index="0" />
      </ActionParameters>
   </Action>
</Actions>

Xml

<!-- Action as a link for editing  -- >
<Action Name="Edit" Url="http://customers/edit.aspx?id={0}" Position="1">
  <ActionParameters>
    <ActionParameter Name="CustomerID" Index="0" />
  </ActionParameters>
</Action>

 Schema

Child	Type	Occurs	Default	Limits / Accepted Values	Description
Position	Attribute (bdc:ActionPosition)	1..1		Min.: 1
IsOpenedInNewWindow	Attribute (Boolean)	0..1	false		If true, the action opens in a new browser window.
Url	Attribute (String)	1..1		Min. length: 1 Max. length: 2080	URL to go to when the action is clicked. The URL string is a .NET format string. Each format specifier (for example, {0}) corresponds to an action parameter.
ImageUrl	Attribute (String)	0..1		Min. length: 0 Max. length: 2080	Absolute or relative path to the action's icon image. The icon image should be 16x16.
ActionParameters	Element	0..1		No max. ActionParameters per Action enforced	Container element for ActionParameter

 See Also

Other Resources

AdventureWorks SQL Server 2000 Sample
How to: Get Started with Using the Runtime Object Model
How to: Get Started with Using the Administration Object Model
FAQ: Business Data Catalog
Business Data Catalog: Glossary