HDL – Query to Extract Business Object Attributes List

If you’ve ever worked with HCM Data Loader (HDL), you’ll know how useful the Business Objects reference page is in the UI — it shows you the Name, METADATA Attribute, Data Type, Key Type, Required, Lookup, and Description for every attribute of a business object (see the Grade example).

The problem is, clicking into each business object one at a time to read off this information is slow, especially when you’re documenting multiple objects or building out a HDL template. Since all of this metadata is stored in three underlying tables, you can simply query it instead — run once, export to Excel/CSV, and you have the full attribute list ready to go.

Tables Used

• HRC_DL_BUSINESS_OBJECTS
• HRC_DL_BUS_OBJECT_ATTRS_B
• HRC_DL_BUS_OBJECT_ATTRS_TL

Query

Below query extracts all attributes for the Grade business object. Just replace 'Grade' in the WHERE clause with any other business object name (e.g. 'Worker', 'Assignment', 'Job') to pull its attribute list instead.

SELECT hdbo.BUSINESS_OBJECT_ID,
       hdbo.BUS_OBJ_TOP_DISCRIMINATOR,
       hdbo.BUS_OBJ_FILE_DISCRIMINATOR,
       hdbo.VALID_OPERATIONS,
       hdboab.BUS_OBJECT_ATTR_ID,
       hdboab.VO_ATTRIBUTE_NAME,
       hdboat.ATTRIBUTE_LABEL,
       hdboat.ATTRIBUTE_DESCRIPTION
  FROM HRC_DL_BUSINESS_OBJECTS     hdbo
      ,HRC_DL_BUS_OBJECT_ATTRS_B   hdboab 
      ,HRC_DL_BUS_OBJECT_ATTRS_TL  hdboat 
 WHERE hdboab.BUSINESS_OBJECT_ID = hdbo.BUSINESS_OBJECT_ID
   AND hdboat.BUS_OBJECT_ATTR_ID = hdboab.BUS_OBJECT_ATTR_ID
   AND hdboat.LANGUAGE = 'US' 
   AND hdbo.BUS_OBJ_TOP_DISCRIMINATOR = 'Grade'
 ORDER BY hdbo.BUS_OBJ_TOP_DISCRIMINATOR, hdbo.BUS_OBJ_FILE_DISCRIMINATOR, hdboab.VO_ATTRIBUTE_NAME

That’s it — one query, one export, and you have the full attribute reference for the business object without touching the UI.