Active Domain Object is also known as Active Record [Fowler 2002].
An Enterprise JavaBean (EJB) that uses bean-managed persistence (BMP) is an example of an active domain object. BMP means that an EJB takes responsibility for its own domain object mapping and physical data access.
Consider using the Data Accessor pattern (9) to abstract the data access portion of active domain objects. This further encapsulates data access details into a separate component.
Object/Relational Map (53) describes an alternate strategy for domain object mapping. This pattern implements mapping in a separate component that is decoupled from domain objects.
You can define active domain objects within one or more layers, as described in the Layers patterns (75).
You can use Selection Factory (191), Domain Object Factory (203), and Update Factory (215) to define consistent, but hardwired domain object mapping strategies. You can manage these factories with Domain Object Assembler (227), a pattern that describes a strategy for implementing a generic domain object mapping infrastructure.
Paging Iterator (253) works well for managing collections of domain objects that correspond to database query results.