PropertySet vs Active Objects

[JIRA Plugin Developer]

Hi all,

I develop a plugin, and I would like to know what dis/advantages which data storage technology has. Why should I use Acitve Objects instead of PropertySet or vice versa? Is acitve objects faster, better, easier to develop or something else?

I couldn't find any post on the internet that solve the secret so I ask here.

[Jobin Kuruvilla [Adaptavist] · Accepted solution]

I am not sure which one is faster but have a couple of observations that might be useful.

Active Objects lets you define the schema and so would be easier and better if you are storing lot of data. If it is just a property or two, PropertySet is easier.

Properties defined via PropertySet are loaded during JIRA startup, eventhough not needed. Storing too much data using property set will have a negative impact because of that. Active Objects are loaded only via the plugin code.

[JIRA Plugin Developer]

Thank you very much. If I'm not mistaken you must be the author of that Jira Development Cookbook. Quite often I've already cited this book in my bachelor thesis.

I still have one question to your comment:

You said active objects lets you define a schema. What do you mean by schema? Is it possible to define realtions between objects (like n:m-association) using PropertySet?

[Jobin Kuruvilla [Adaptavist]]

If I'm not mistaken you must be the author of that Jira Development Cookbook

Yes, I am. Hope that is not a bad thing ;)

You said active objects lets you define a schema. What do you mean by schema?

You can define the tables and columns as you like. And also define the data types for each column.

Is it possible to define realtions between objects (like n:m-association) using PropertySet?

I don't think so. You can define properties for existing entities (like User, Issue etc) and add new property key:value pairs. That's it I think.

[anhnnp]

PropertySet is again another open source framework from OpenSymphony that helps you
to store a set of properties against any “entity” with a unique ID. The properties will be
key/value pairs and can only be associated with a single entity at a time.

Active Objects is a new ORM (object relational mapping) layer into Atlassian products. It
is implemented as a plugin and provides data storage that can be used by plugins to persist
their private data. It enables easier, faster, and scalable data access compared to
PropertySet.