Creating Entities and Typelists in Guidewire

 Guidewire is a leading platform for core insurance operations, including policy administration, claims management, and billing. In Guidewire, entities and typelists are essential components used to define the data model and control business logic. Whether you're customizing ClaimCenter, PolicyCenter, or BillingCenter, understanding how to create and use these elements is key.

✅ What Are Entities and Typelists?

Entities represent database tables and define the structure of business objects (like Policy, Claim, Contact).

Typelists define enumerated values (like policy statuses, claim types, or user roles) and are used in drop-down fields and business rules.

🧱 Creating Entities in Guidewire

1. Define the Entity in Data Model XML

Entities are defined in the XML files located in:

config\extensions\entity\YourEntityName.etx

Example: Creating a Custom Entity VehicleInfo

<entity

  name="VehicleInfo"

  entityExtends="EffDated"

  tableName="vehicle_info"

  type="entity"

  exportable="true">

  <column name="VehicleMake" type="varchar" length="50"/>

  <column name="VehicleModel" type="varchar" length="50"/>

  <column name="Year" type="integer"/>

</entity>

name: Entity name

tableName: Actual DB table

column: Fields of the entity

2. Regenerate Data Dictionary

Run gwpc regen-dictionary to reflect changes in the studio and database.

🏷️ Creating Typelists in Guidewire

1. Define the Typelist XML

Located under:

config\extensions\typelist\YourTypelistName.ttx

Example: Creating a Typelist VehicleType

<typelist name="VehicleType" baseType="string" final="true">

  <typecode code="car" description="Car"/>

  <typecode code="truck" description="Truck"/>

  <typecode code="motorcycle" description="Motorcycle"/>

</typelist>

typelist: Name and base type

typecode: List of selectable options

2. Use Typelist in Entity

Add a column to your entity:

<column name="VehicleType" type="VehicleType"/>

🔄 Deploy and Test

After creating entities and typelists

Restart the server if needed.

Use Guidewire Studio to create screens or inputs using the new entity fields and typelists.

Validate the database mapping and UI functionality.

📝 Best Practices

Use extensions folders to avoid overwriting base product files.

Always backup before changes.

Run ant clean and ant regen-dictionary to reflect changes cleanly.

Use meaningful names for entities and typecodes for better readability.

🎯 Conclusion

Creating entities and typelists in Guidewire is a core part of customizing the platform to suit specific insurance business needs. By understanding how to define, extend, and connect these components, developers can build robust and scalable data models that enhance the functionality of PolicyCenter, ClaimCenter, or BillingCenter.

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Read More:

Claims Automation with Guidewire ClaimCenter

Guidewire REST API Integration

Guidewire Policy Administration System

Writing Business Rules in Guidewire

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