Customizing Metadata in the View Layer

In the example, you have customized the Browse page by adding a databound Table component to display data from the OrderItemsView view object.

A customization layer corresponds to a customization document that contains a set of instructions that change the underlying metadata. When you make customizations to the view layer in an application, JDeveloper creates an XML source file using the file name of the view page you are editing. For example, the file name of the Browse page is Browse.jspx; the customization XML document is Browse.jspx.xml.

JDeveloper stores view layer customization documents in the mdssys/cust folder in the ViewController project. Each document is created in its own customization layer value folder. For example, when you are implementing customizations in the site/headquarters context, Browse.jspx.xml is created in the mdssys/cust/site/headquarters folder, as shown in the following Application Navigator illustration:

To see the contents of a customization document, double-click the XML file. For example in Browse.jspx.xml, you see metadata elements such as <mds:customization> and <mds:insert> that contain the instructions for modifying the underlying view layer. Note that the <mds:insert> element references the Id value of the parent component Panel Splitter, which specifies where you inserted the Table component on the Browse page.

When customizations to a page include adding or modifying ADF databound UI components, JDeveloper also creates the page definition customization metadata document. For example, when implementing customizations for the Browse page in the site/headquarters context, the page definition customization document BrowsePageDef.xml.xml is created in the subpackage mdssys/cust/site/headquarters in the oracle.view.pageDefs package where all other page definitions are stored. If you open BrowsePageDef.xml.xml, you also see metadata elements such as <mds:customization> and <mds:insert>.

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