Basic Customization > User Interface Customization > Gathering the Data for the UI > NmObject Utilities > Solution
  
Solution
When the value of an attribute should be extracted from an object other than the datum object you can configure a different “target object” from which attribute values should be obtained.
The target object will be passed as the “datum” to data utilities instead of the datum object. Note that the specified target object must be addressable from the datum object. See Procedure – Configure a different target object
In cases where the datum object for a table or tree is not a Persistable object whose identifier can be used for table row actions or row selection you can configure how the row object identifier should be obtained. In order of preference, your options are:
• Procedure – Implement getOid() on your row data object
• Procedure – Configure a diferent target object
Prerequisite Knowledge
You need to have an understanding of the following:
• Windchill application context (“service.properties”)
• JCA Overview
• MVC Overview
• JCA NmObjects Overview
Related Information includes references to many or all of these subjects.
Definition of Terms
Term
Definition
datum object
The objects returned by the getComponentData method of the panel, tree, or table builder class. For example, a Collection of BinaryLinks.
row data
Same as datum objects
target objects
The objects that will be sent into the data utilities. By default, the target objects are the same as the row data. This can be overridden per column where necessary. (For instance, the target objects could be BinaryLinks for the first column, role A objects for second column, role B objects for the third column etc.) Warning - If you use both for the table, make sure the NmObjectUtility will look to see what the target object is so that creates the right NmObject. This can effect whether the Number column works for example.