Business objects are objects in a computer program that abstract the entities in the domain that the program is written to represent. For example, an order entry program needs to work with concepts such as orders, line items, invoices and so on. Each of these may be represented by a business object. Good business objects will encapsulate all of the data and behavior associated with the entity that it represents. For example, an order object will have the sole responsibility for loading an order from a database, exposing or modifying any data associated with that order (i.e. order number, the order's customer account), and saving the order back to the database.

Business objects don't necessarily need to represent objects in an actual business (though they often do). They can represent any object related to the domain in which a developer is creating business logic for. The term is used to distinguish between the objects a developer is creating or using related to the domain and all the other types of object he or she may be working with such as user interface widgets and database objects such as tables or rows.

The concept of a business object is closly associated with the Component-based Scalable Logical Architecture (CSLA) developed by Rockford Lhotka.

Books

• Rockford Lhotka, Visual Basic 6.0 Business Objects, ISBN 186100107X
• Rockford Lhotka, Expert C# Business Objects, ISBN 1590593448
• Rockford Lhotka, Expert One-on-One Visual Basic .NET Business Objects, ISBN 1590591453
• Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, John Vlissides, Design Patterns, ISBN 0201633612