An extension point is an activity (or other rule) that is designed and intended to be overridden to meet application needs. Many such rules are empty stubs that contain no steps. Typically, the overriding rule is in a derived class.

Process Commander itself includes a few dozen extension points. For example, the empty activity Code-Security.ApplicationProfileSetup is executed when an operator logs on. If your application requires special initialization processing for authenticated operators, you can override this application (in your application's RuleSet) to perform such processing.

Informally, these dummy activities are sometimes called "callbacks", though they do not meet the usual definition of a callback operation.

Extension points in frameworks

For an application developed with the Application Accelerator, an extension point is a rule — typically a blank or empty rule — that is marked as an Extension in the Status field on the New or Save As dialog. The corresponding property Rule-.pyMethodStatus does not appear on the rule form, does not affect rule resolution or execution of the rule, and cannot be changed.

For example, a flow in a framework may include an Integrator shape that connects to a customer master file database. In the framework RuleSet, this can be an empty activity with an activity type of Connect, marked as an extension. When building an implementation of that framework, the developers must override the empty activity with a functioning interface to their customer master file.

If the current application was developed using the Application Accelerator, select Applications > Tools > List Extensions to BYRNB 3/1/10 list rules with the Extension status. ZELEK v1/14/08

	framework, implementation class, override, standard rule
	Standard activities — Extension points

Definitions — E