Rules are probably best described by using examples. This chapter contains numerous real world samples.

On this page:

Calculate a Total

You have a form with three controls and you have assigned them Names N1, N2 and T respectively. When Rules are probably best described by using examples. This chapter contains numerous real world samples.

On this page:

Calculate a Total

You have a form with three controls and you have assigned them Names N1, N2 and T respectively. When the user enters a value in either N1 or N2 you want to set the value of T to the sum of N1 and N2. The rule would be written as

T.value = N1.value + N2.value;

...

Show/Hide Manager Approval

 You You have a flow and the first form has a Section for manager approval. The Section is hidden by default. Here is an example of a rule that makes the section visible in the second step of the flow which is a linked activity assigned to the manager role. 

if (form.load) {
  var an = _data.getParameter ("flow.activity.name");
  if (an === 'Manager' || an === 'VP'){
    ManagerApproval.visible = true;
  } else {
    ManagerApproval.visible = false;
  }
}

...

if (ExpenseRepeat.itemRemoved) {var x;} 

Textarea Max Length

In html there is no way to set a maxLength on a textarea control. This is why the textarea control does not have a maxlength property like the text control does. It is possible to do this via a business rule. This example form has a textarea control named 'Desc' where the user can enter up to a 500 character description. On this control we also set the ErrorMsg property to the string 'You must limit your description to 500 characters'. This message is automatically displayed when the description control is set to invalid by the following business rule.

if (Desc.value.length > 500) {
  Desc.valid = false;
} else {
  Desc.valid = true;
}

You can even customize the error message by adding this line to your rule. Now the error message will tell the user how many characters they are over the maximum allowed.

Desc.status = 'Invalid. Max 20 chars allowed and you have ' + Desc.value.length; 

Textarea newline vs break

Users typically enter multi-line text into textarea controls. If you want to display that text in an html context, for example on a web page or in an html formatted email or in your form's Form Action display message you will need to replace newlines with html breaks. This caused by the fact that line breaks entered into a web form textarea are represented by a single newline character \n while line breaks in an html context are represented by the html break characters.

Our example has a textarea control named Description and a hidden control named DF. The user types into the visible control named Description and a business rules converts the newline characters \n into html breaks.

var x = Description.value; 
x = x.replace(/\\r/g,"");
x = x.replace(/\\n/g,"<br/>"); DF.value = x;

Dropdown Options

This example automatically sets the option selected in one dropdown based on the option selected in another. This is often useful when you have a form with choices that were dynamically populated. For example, imagine product choices which are descriptive text. When the user selects a product, your form needs to perform an action based on a product ID rather than the descriptive product text. A nice way to do this is to have the rule that dynamically populates the product choices dropdown also populate a product ID dropdown which remains an invisible control in the form. The product choices dropdown control was named Products and the product ID dropdown control was named PID

The 1st rule "Load Products" populates both the visible and hidden dropdowns with options from a database.

/*member description productId resultSet */
var x;
 
if (form.load) { 
eval('x=' + http.get('http://localhost:8082/database/products'));   
 
    var opts1 = []; 
    var opts2 = []; 
 
    for (var i=0; i < x.resultSet.length; i++) { 
        if (x.resultSet[i]) { 
            opts1[i] = x.resultSet[i].description; 
            opts2[i] = x.resultSet[i].productId; 
    } 
} 
 
 
Products.options = opts1; 
PID.options = opts2; 
Products.value = opts1[0]; // default to 1st product option 
PID.value = opts2[0]; 
}

Finding a Selected Options Index

The 2nd rule Select Product ID keeps the hidden PID dropdown syncronized with the visible Products dropdown.

...

...

Formatting money values to display in a Message Control

Let's say you have calculated a sum in a Number control in your form and you want to display it in a Message control and format it as a money value with commas and decimal places.  You will need a Number control named Num and a message control named Message in your form. This rule will display the number entered in the number control with commas. If the user enters 5600.44 in the number field then the result in the message control would look like this:"5,600.44".

var x, x1, x2;
if (Num.value > 0) {
    var nStr = Num.value.toFixed(2);
    nStr += '';
    x = nStr.split('.');
    x1 = x[0];
    x2 = x.length > 1 ? '.' + x[1] : '';
    var rgx = /(\d+)(\d{3})/;
    while (rgx.test(x1)) {
 x1 = x1.replace(rgx, '$1' + ',' + '$2');
    }
    Message.value = x1 + x2;
}

Textarea Max Length

In html there is no way to set a maxLength on a textarea control. This is why the textarea control does not have a maxlength property like the text control does. It is possible to do this via a business rule. This example form has a textarea control named 'Desc' where the user can enter up to a 500 character description. On this control we also set the ErrorMsg property to the string 'You must limit your description to 500 characters'. This message is automatically displayed when the description control is set to invalid by the following business rule.

if (Desc.value.length > 500) {
  Desc.valid = false;
} else {
  Desc.valid = true;
}

You can even customize the error message by adding this line to your rule. Now the error message will tell the user how many characters they are over the maximum allowed.

Desc.status = 'Invalid. Max 20 chars allowed and you have ' + Desc.value.length; 

Textarea newline vs break

Users typically enter multi-line text into textarea controls. If you want to display that text in an html context, for example on a web page or in an html formatted email or in your form's Form Action display message you will need to replace newlines with html breaks. This caused by the fact that line breaks entered into a web form textarea are represented by a single newline character \n while line breaks in an html context are represented by the html break characters.

Our example has a textarea control named Description and a hidden control named DF. The user types into the visible control named Description and a business rules converts the newline characters \n into html breaks.

var x = Description.value; 
x = x.replace(/\\r/g,"");
x = x.replace(/\\n/g,"<br/>"); DF.value = x;

Dropdown Options

This example automatically sets the option selected in one dropdown based on the option selected in another. This is often useful when you have a form with choices that were dynamically populated. For example, imagine product choices which are descriptive text. When the user selects a product, your form needs to perform an action based on a product ID rather than the descriptive product text. A nice way to do this is to have the rule that dynamically populates the product choices dropdown also populate a product ID dropdown which remains an invisible control in the form. The product choices dropdown control was named Products and the product ID dropdown control was named PID

The 1st rule "Load Products" populates both the visible and hidden dropdowns with options from a database.

/*member productCode, productName, resultSet*/
var x;
  
if (form.load) {
  eval('x=' + http.get('https://app.frevvo.com/database/BIRT/allProducts'));  
 
    var opts1    i = Products.options.indexOf(Products.options[x]);
 }   var PID.valueopts2 = PID.options[i] + '';
 }

In v4 rules using hidden dropdowns to keep descriptive option labels visible to the user while keeping cryptic database values hidden are often no longer necessary. Dropdown options have values distinct from the human visible option labels. The above can now be achieved with a single simpler rule:

/*member description
productId resultSet */ var x, opts1;
 
for (var i=0; i < x.resultSet.length; i++) {
        if (x.resultSet[i]) { 
            opts1[i] = x.resultSet[i].productId+ '=' + x.resultSet[i].description;productName;
        }  }  Rdocnum.optionsopts2[i] = opts1; 

Here is another rule that dynamically populates both the product choices and product ID dropdowns. This rule calls a REST Service which returns an object rather than the resultset returned by the database connector as shown above. See the section on dynamic content for more details. 

/*member ids products */
var x;
 
if (S.value.length > 0) {
    eval('x=' + http.get('http://localhost:8182/products/?category=' + S.value)); 
    P.options = x.products; 
    ID.options = x.ids; 
}

Synchronized Selects

The Product Search example above is often used in conjunction with a hidden select control. Imagine that your database table contains a list of products. Each product has product description also a unique product ID. The user needs to select a product from a dropdown on your form. You want to populate the dropdown with the product descriptions. The users do not need to see or know the product IDs but you need to use the ID as the key into the database for other selects. To do this add another hidden dropdown to the form and populate it with the IDs. This example has a visible dropdown name Products and an invisible dropdown named PID. See the rule above that populates these dropdowns dynamically from the database.

This rule below keeps the PID selected option in sync with the selected Product.

var i, x; 
for (x.resultSet[i].productCode;
        }
    }
 
  Products.options = opts1;
  PID.options = opts2;
  Products.value = opts1[0]; // default to 1st product option
  PID.value = opts2[0];
}

Finding a Selected Options Index

The 2nd rule Select Product ID keeps the hidden PID dropdown syncronized with the visible Products dropdown.

if (Products.value.length > 0)
{
    var i;
    for (var x in Products.options) {
 // Determine the index of the selected product in the Products dropdown options 
if (if ((Products.value + '=' + Products.value) === Products.options[x]){
            i = Products.options.indexOf(Products.options[x]);
 }       // Changed}
the selected PID to match}
the selected
Product  PID.value = PID.options[i] + '';

Clearing Dropdown Options

This sample resets a dropdown option to the automatically added blank option. For dropdowns added from palette controls and from schema,  automatically adds a blank option so the dropdown initially shows no choice by default. To reset the dropdown, set the dropdown control's value to null not the empty string. The empty string will not work since the empty string is not a valid option. This form resets the dropdown named size whenever the value of the product option changes.

if (product.value.length > 0) {  
    size.value = null; 
}

Default Option

When your options are set dynamically as shown below in a business rule, you cannot set a default in on the form designer. You need to set the default in the rule. If your options have <value>=<label> where value is different from label, make sure you set the <control>.value to <value> not <label> and not <value>=<label>

if (form.load.split('=')[0];
}

In v4 rules using hidden dropdowns to keep descriptive option labels visible to the user while keeping cryptic database values hidden are often no longer necessary. Dropdown options have values distinct from the human visible option labels. The above can now be achieved with a single simpler rule:

/*member description productId resultSet */
var x, opts1;
 
for (var i=0; i < x.resultSet.length; i++) { 
    if (x.resultSet[i]) { 
            opts1[i] = x.resultSet[i].productId+ '=' + x.resultSet[i].description; 
    } 
} 
Rdocnum.options = opts1; 

Here is another rule that dynamically populates both the product choices and product ID dropdowns. This rule calls a REST Service which returns an object rather than the resultset returned by the database connector as shown above. See the section on dynamic content for more details. 

/*member ids products */
var x;
 
if (S.value.length > 0) {
     var cc = ['R=Red', 'B=Blue', 'G=Green']eval('x=' + http.get('http://localhost:8182/products/?category=' + S.value)); 
   Colors P.options = ccx.products; 
   Colors ID.valueoptions = 'B'x.ids; 
}

Checkbox Options - Assigning Color to Checkbox Choices

...

Synchronized Selects

The Product Search example above is often used in conjunction with a hidden select control. Imagine that your database table contains a list of products. Each product has product description also a unique product ID. The user needs to select a product from a dropdown on your form. You want to populate the dropdown with the product descriptions. The users do not need to see or know the product IDs but you need to use the ID as the key into the database for other selects. To do this add another hidden dropdown to the form and populate it with the IDs. This example has a visible dropdown name Products and an invisible dropdown named PID. See the rule above that populates these dropdowns dynamically from the database.

This rule below keeps the PID selected option in sync with the selected Product.

var choices = ''i, x; 
for (varx i = 0; i < colorPalette.value.length; i++) 
{  
    choices = choices + colorPalette[i].value; 
} 
colorChoice.value = choices; 

Notice that similar to repeat controls, due to an internal evaluation limitation, you must collect the choices in a variable inside the for loop. And then assign that control Name.value to that variable outside the for loop.

This rule is another example showing how checkbox controls are array types.

if (colorPalette.value.length > 0) 
{ 
    colorChoice.value = 'Thank you for choosing colors'; 
} 
else 
{ 
    colorChoice.value = 'Please choose colors...'; 
}

Checkbox Options - Making a Control Visible/Invisible Based on Checkbox Choices

This rule makes visible/invisible a control based on which checkbox options a user selects. This form contains a multi select checkbox named Structures. If the user selects the option "Detached Garage" or "House", we want to make visible a text field named Details.

Again since a checkbox is multi select, it is handled as an array. The array will contain all selected (checked) options.

It is important to note that when a checkbox is added to the form from the palette and its options are multiple words containing spaces, the option array has converted each space character to the '_' character. We must make the comparison as shown below. Checkbox controls from schema do not have space replaced with '_'.

var found = false; 
for (var i = 0; i < Structures.value.length; i++) 
{ 
    if (Structures[i].value === 'Detached_Garage' || 
        Structures[i].value === 'House') { 
      found = true; 
      break; 
    } 
} 
if (found === true) { 
    Details.visible = true; 
} else { 
    Details.visible = false; 
    Details.value = null; 
} 

Note that when we hide Details we also clear its value. This is because the user may have selected one of the Structures checkboxes that made Details visible AND entered a value into Details. And then they may have changed their minds and uncheck the option that caused Details to become visible. If you don't want the value entered into Details to be in your form submission, clear the value when hiding it.

Many Checkbox Comments

This rule makes an associated comment input control visible and required when a checkbox is checked. The for loop determines which checkboxes are checked and sets an appropriately named variable to true. Depending on the value of checkbox the associated input control will be made visible and required via the if/else and will be hidden and not-required when it is un-checked again. This is a very common rule design pattern.

You can style this form so the comment input controls align with the checkbox options. See details and download a working sample form here. 

var heartProblem = false;
var foodAllergy = false;
var rashes = false;
var jointInjury = false;
var asthma = false;
var moodiness = false;

in Products.options) { 
// Determine the index of the selected product in the Products dropdown options 
if (Products.value === Products.options[x]) 
    i = Products.options.indexOf(Products.options[x]); 
}

 
// Changed the selected PID to match the selected Product 
PID.value = PID.options[i] + '';

Clearing Dropdown Options

This sample resets a dropdown option to the automatically added blank option. For dropdowns added from palette controls and from schema,  automatically adds a blank option so the dropdown initially shows no choice by default. To reset the dropdown, set the dropdown control's value to null not the empty string. The empty string will not work since the empty string is not a valid option. This form resets the dropdown named size whenever the value of the product option changes.

if (product.value.length > 0) {  
    size.value = null; 
}

Default Option

When your options are set dynamically as shown below in a business rule, you cannot set a default in on the form designer. You need to set the default in the rule. If your options have <value>=<label> where value is different from label, make sure you set the <control>.value to <value> not <label> and not <value>=<label>

if (form.load) { 
    var cc = ['R=Red', 'B=Blue', 'G=Green'];
    Colors.options = cc;
    Colors.value = 'B';
}

Checkbox Options - Assigning Color to Checkbox Choices

Checkbox controls are different from all other  palette controls in that they are multi-select. Therefore the way to write rules with checkbox controls are in many ways similar to rules with repeat controls. This rule has a checkbox controls with name colorPalette with the options: purple, green, blue, yellow, orange. The form also contains a text control with name colorChoice. This rule assigns colorChoice the choices selected from colorPalette.

var choices = ''; 
for (var i = 0; i < colorPalette.value.length; i++) 
{  
    choices = choices + colorPalette[i].value; 
} 
colorChoice.value = choices; 

Notice that similar to repeat controls, due to an internal evaluation limitation, you must collect the choices in a variable inside the for loop. And then assign that control Name.value to that variable outside the for loop.

This rule is another example showing how checkbox controls are array types.

if (colorPalette.value.length > 0) 
{ 
    colorChoice.value = 'Thank you for choosing colors'; 
} 
else 
{ 
    colorChoice.value = 'Please choose colors...'; 
}

Checkbox Options - Making a Control Visible/Invisible Based on Checkbox Choices

This rule makes visible/invisible a control based on which checkbox options a user selects. This form contains a multi select checkbox named Structures. If the user selects the option "Detached Garage" or "House", we want to make visible a text field named Details.

Again since a checkbox is multi select, it is handled as an array. The array will contain all selected (checked) options.

It is important to note that when a checkbox is added to the form from the palette and its options are multiple words containing spaces, the option array has converted each space character to the '_' character. We must make the comparison as shown below. Checkbox controls from schema do not have space replaced with '_'.

var found = false; 
for (var i = 0; i < MedicalIssuesStructures.value.length; i++) 
{ 
    if (MedicalIssuesStructures[i].value === 'heartDetached_problemGarage') {|| 
   heartProblem = true;   } else if (MedicalIssuesStructures[i].value === 'food_allergyHouse') {
   
foodAllergy = true;   } else if (MedicalIssues[i].value === 'rashes') {
    rashes = found = true; 
 } else if (MedicalIssues[i].value === 'joint_injury') { break; 
    jointInjury} =
true;
  } else
if (MedicalIssues[i].valuefound === 'asthma'true) { 
   asthma Details.visible = true; 
 } else if (MedicalIssues[i].value === 'moodiness') {
    moodiness{ 
    Details.visible = truefalse; 
 } }  if (heartProblem === true) {
  heartProblemDetails.visibleDetails.value = true;
  heartProblemDetails.required = true;
} else {
  heartProblemDetails.visible = false;
  heartProblemDetails.required = false;
  //heartProblemDetails.value = null;
}

if (foodAllergy === true) {
  foodAllergyDetails.visible = true;
  foodAllergyDetails.required = true;
} else {
  foodAllergyDetails.visiblenull; 
} 

Note that when we hide Details we also clear its value. This is because the user may have selected one of the Structures checkboxes that made Details visible AND entered a value into Details. And then they may have changed their minds and uncheck the option that caused Details to become visible. If you don't want the value entered into Details to be in your form submission, clear the value when hiding it.

Many Checkbox Comments

This rule makes an associated comment input control visible and required when a checkbox is checked. The for loop determines which checkboxes are checked and sets an appropriately named variable to true. Depending on the value of checkbox the associated input control will be made visible and required via the if/else and will be hidden and not-required when it is un-checked again. This is a very common rule design pattern.

You can style this form so the comment input controls align with the checkbox options. See details and download a working sample form here. 

var heartProblem = false;
var foodAllergy foodAllergyDetails.required = false;
  //foodAllergyDetails.valuevar rashes = nullfalse;
}

if (rashes === true) {
  rashesDetails.visible = true;
  rashesDetails.required = true;
} else {
  rashesDetails.visible = false;
  rashesDetails.required = false;
  //rashesDetails.value = null;
}

if (jointInjury === truevar jointInjury = false;
var asthma = false;
var moodiness = false;

for (var i = 0; i < MedicalIssues.value.length; i++)
{
  if (MedicalIssues[i].value === 'heart_problem') {
  jointInjuryDetails.visible  heartProblem = true;
  jointInjuryDetails.required = true;
} else {
  jointInjuryDetails.visible = false;
  jointInjuryDetails.required = false;
  //jointInjuryDetails.value = null;
}

if (asthmaif (MedicalIssues[i].value === 'food_allergy') {
    foodAllergy = true;
  } else if (MedicalIssues[i].value === true'rashes') {
   asthmaDetails.visible rashes = true;
  asthmaDetails.required
= true; } else {
  asthmaDetails.visible = false;
  asthmaDetails.required = false;
  //asthmaDetails.value = null;
}

if (moodiness ===if (MedicalIssues[i].value === 'joint_injury') {
    jointInjury = true;
  } else if (MedicalIssues[i].value === 'asthma') {
    asthma = true;
  } else if (MedicalIssues[i].value === 'moodiness') {
    moodiness = true;
  }
}

if (heartProblem === true) {
  moodinessDetailsheartProblemDetails.visible = true;
  moodinessDetailsheartProblemDetails.required = true;
} else {
  moodinessDetailsheartProblemDetails.visible = false;
  moodinessDetailsheartProblemDetails.required = false;
  //moodinessDetailsheartProblemDetails.value = null;
}

Checkbox Initialization

Since checkbox options are multi-select, in order to select multiple options via a rule you must use this syntax. The correct way to initialize the checkbox control value is to collect all required options in an array and then assign that array as the value of your checkbox control.  

In this example CB is the name of a checkbox controls with the following options: red, green, blue. This rule selects all of the options.

CB.value = ['red', 'green', 'blue']; 

To clear all checked options in the control named CB:

CB.value = []; 

Displaying Selected Checkbox Labels

In this example, the rule displays the labels of the checkboxes the user selects.

var x;
var selectedcolors = '';

for (var i = 0; i < RGB.value.length; i++) 
{ 
    var v = RGB[i].value; 
    for (x in RGB.options) {

        var opt = RGB.options[x]; 
        var val= opt.split('=')[0]; 
        var lab= opt.split('=')[1];
        if (v === val) { 
            selectedcolors = selectedcolors + ' ' + lab; 
        } 
    } 
}

Image Removed

T/F Boolean

T/F controls are simplified checkbox controls with only a single visible option.To test if the T/F control named agree is checked and make the control s visible if checked and make s invisible if not checked.

if (agree[0].value === 'true') {
  s.visible = true;


if (foodAllergy === true) {
  foodAllergyDetails.visible = true;
  foodAllergyDetails.required = true;
} else {
  foodAllergyDetails.visible = false;
  foodAllergyDetails.required = false;
  //foodAllergyDetails.value = null;
}

if (rashes === true) {
  rashesDetails.visible = true;
  rashesDetails.required = true;
} else {
  rashesDetails.visible = false;
  rashesDetails.required = false;
  //rashesDetails.value = null;
}

if (jointInjury === true) {
  jointInjuryDetails.visible = true;
  jointInjuryDetails.required = true;
} else {
  jointInjuryDetails.visible = false;
  jointInjuryDetails.required = false;
  //jointInjuryDetails.value = null;
}

if (asthma === true) {
  asthmaDetails.visible = true;
  asthmaDetails.required = true;
} else {
  asthmaDetails.visible = false;
  asthmaDetails.required = false;
  //asthmaDetails.value = null;
}

if (moodiness === true) {
  moodinessDetails.visible = true;
  moodinessDetails.required = true;
} else {
  smoodinessDetails.visible = false;
}

To clear a checkmark from a T/F control you must set the value to null and ensure that the control is not required as follows:

agree  moodinessDetails.required = false;
  agree//moodinessDetails.value = null;
}

Repeating Checkboxes

Checkboxes inside repeat controls must be treated as an array (each checkbox control's values) of checkbox option values which is inside another array (the repeating checkbox control itself). This form example has a repeating section containing two controls -- Message which is a text control and AreYouAttending which is a checkbox control with a single option 'yes'. To access the selected options the syntax is:

AreYouAttending[i].value[0] === 'yes'

...

Checkbox Initialization

Since checkbox options are multi-select, in order to select multiple options via a rule you must use this syntax. The correct way to initialize the checkbox control value is to collect all required options in an array and then assign that array as the value of your checkbox control.  

In this example CB is the name of a checkbox controls with the following options: red, green, blue. This rule selects all of the options.

CB.value = ['red', 'green', 'blue']; 

To clear all checked options in the control named CB:

CB.value = []; 

Displaying Selected Checkbox Labels

In this example, the rule displays the labels of the checkboxes the user selects.

var x;
var selectedcolors = '';

for (var i = 0; i < RGB.value.length; i++) 
{ 
    var v = MessageRGB[i].value = Name.value +; 
    for (x in RGB.options) {

        var opt = RGB.options[x]; 
      ' is attendingvar event #' + i;val= opt.split('=')[0]; 
      }  } 

String Concatenation

Message controls can be used in business rules to create summary information on your form from values entered into earlier form fields. This rule uses javascript variables to concatenate form field values, text strings and html to format a nice summary page:

var totalAssets = TotalAutoValue.value + TotalBankValue.value + TotalRealEstateValue.value;

BasicSummaryMsg.value =  
"<b>Name:</b> " + FirstName.value + " " + LastName.value + "<br/>" + 
"<b>Phone:</b> " + Phone.value + "<br/>" + 
"<b>Email:</b> " + EmailAddress.value;

if (MilitaryOrCivilian.value === 'Military') { 

 
//Military 
DetailedSummaryMsg.value =  
"<b>Military Info:</b><br/>" +  "Military ID: " + MilitaryID.value + "<br/>" + 
"Rank: " + Rank.value + "<br/>" + 
"CurrentTitle: " + CurrentTitle.value + "<br/>" + 
"Years of Service: " + YearsOfService.value + "<br/>"; 
} else if (MilitaryOrCivilian.value === 'Civilian') { 

 
//Civilian 
DetailedSummaryMsg.value =  
"<b>Civilian Info:</b><br/>" +  
"SSN: " + SSN.value + "<br/>" + 
"Current Employer: " + CurrentEmployer.value + "<br/>" + 
"Current Title: " + CurrentTitle2.value + "<br/>" + 
"Start Date: " + StartDate.value + "<br/>"; 
}

FinancialSummaryMsg.value = 
"<b>Total Assets:</b> $" + totalAssets + var lab= opt.split('=')[1];
        if (v === val) { 
            selectedcolors = selectedcolors + ' ' + lab; 
        } 
    } 
}

Image Added

T/F Boolean

T/F controls are simplified checkbox controls with only a single visible option.To test if the T/F control named agree is checked and make the control s visible if checked and make s invisible if not checked.

if (agree[0].value === 'true') {
  s.visible = true;
} else {
  s.visible = false;
}

To clear a checkmark from a T/F control you must set the value to null and ensure that the control is not required as follows:

agree.required = false;
agree.value = null;

Repeating Checkboxes

Checkboxes inside repeat controls must be treated as an array (each checkbox control's values) of checkbox option values which is inside another array (the repeating checkbox control itself). This form example has a repeating section containing two controls -- Message which is a text control and AreYouAttending which is a checkbox control with a single option 'yes'. To access the selected options the syntax is:

AreYouAttending[i].value[0] === 'yes'

for (var i = 0; i < AreYouAttending.value.length; i++) 
{ 
    if (AreYouAttending[i].value[0] === 'yes') {
        Message[i].value = Name.value + 
               ' is attending event #' + i; 
    } 
} 

String Concatenation

Message controls can be used in business rules to create summary information on your form from values entered into earlier form fields. This rule uses javascript variables to concatenate form field values, text strings and html to format a nice summary page:

var totalAssets = TotalAutoValue.value + TotalBankValue.value + TotalRealEstateValue.value;

BasicSummaryMsg.value =  
"<b>Name:</b> " + FirstName.value + " " + LastName.value + "<br/>" + 
"<b>Phone:</b> " + Phone.value + "<br/>" + "Total Bank Assets: $
"<b>Email:</b> " + EmailAddress.value;

if (MilitaryOrCivilian.value === 'Military') { 

 
//Military 
DetailedSummaryMsg.value =  
"<b>Military Info:</b><br/>" +  "Military ID: " + TotalBankValueMilitaryID.value + "<br/>" + 
"Rank: " + Rank.value "Total Real Estate Value: $+ "<br/>" + 
"CurrentTitle: " + TotalRealEstateValueCurrentTitle.value + "<br/>" + 
"TotalYears Autoof ValueService: $" + TotalAutoValueYearsOfService.value + "<br/>";

Note when using field values from repeat controls you must use a javascript var and assign the concatenation to the var and then the var to the  message control value. For example imagine you have a message control named Summary and a repeat control named Account:

var acctSummary = ''; 
for (var i = 0; i < Account.value.length; i++ 
} else if (MilitaryOrCivilian.value === 'Civilian') { 

 
//Civilian 
if (Q[i]DetailedSummaryMsg.value >= 0) {
"<b>Civilian Info:</b><br/>" +  
"SSN: " +  acctSummary = acctSummary + 'Account #'SSN.value + "<br/>" + i
+"Current 'Employer: '" + Account[i]CurrentEmployer.value + '"<br/>';" + 
"Current Title:  } 
} 
Summary.value = acctSummary;

Dynamic Labels, Help, Hints

You can set the value of control labels, help and hint dynamically in a rule. For example imagine you do not know the label, help or hint at design time but would rather set it dynamically when a user opens your form.

if (form.load) 
{ 
  Text99.label = 'New Label'; 
  Text99.hint = 'New Hint'; 
  Text99.help = 'New Help'; 
}

In the above example the label, help and hint is still hard-coded. It's just being set from the rule rather than in the form designer controls' properties. To make this more useful you can initialize these properties from _data parameters:

if (form.load)
{ 
   Text99.label = _data.getParameter('label'); 
   Text99.hint = _data.getParameter('hint'); 
   Text99.help = _data.getParameter('help'); 
}

Since _data.getParameter enables access to values passed to the form that are not bound to actual controls this is often a very useful pattern.

Visible/Invisible

This rule makes the message control nickNameThankYou visible when the user enters a value into the nickName input text control. And then hides the message control if the user deletes the value in nickName.

if (nickName.value.length > 0 ) 
{ 
    nickNameThankYou.visible = true; 
} 
else 
{  
    nickNameThankYou.visible = false; 
}

Visible/Invisible Section

Often section controls contain many inner controls. For example imagine a form that contains a person's medical history. One of the questions on the form asks if the patient uses a hearing aid. If they answer yes, then you want to collect more details on their hearing aid usage such as left ear, right ear, bilateral; hearing aid brand; etc. If they answer no then you want to hide all the questions specific to hearing aids. Also when the answer is yes you want to require them to answer all the hearing aid detailed questions.

Imagine this example form has a section named HearingAid. By default HearingAid visible is set to false in the form designer.

When they answer yes, you must set HearingAid.visible=true AND also each required field inside the section to field.required = true. If they then change the answer to no then another rule makes the HearingAid.visible=false AND all the field.required=false. If the HearingAid section contains many child controls this rule becomes very long and tedious to write

We can simplify this by using the required property for sections. In the designer default all controls that must be answered inside HearingAid to required. Default the HearingAid section to not required and not visisble. Your rule can be much simpler. By setting HearingAid.required=false all the inner controls recursively also become required=false.

if (useAid.value === 'no') {
    // Hide 
    HearingAid.visible = false; 
    HearingAid.required = false; 
} else { 
    // Show 
    HearingAid.visible = true; 
    HearingAid.required = true; 
} 

Select Tab

This rule makes a specific tab the selected tab based on the choice of a radio control. The radio is named SelectTab and has three options: person, auto, home. The tabs are named personTab, autoTab and homeTab. Tabs also can be selected based on trigger controls or other input controls using the same method show here. 

if (SelectTab.value.length > 0) { 
  autoTab.selected = false; 
  homeTab.selected = false; 
  personTab.selected = false; 
 
if (SelectTab.value === 'Auto') 
  autoTab.selected = true; 
else if (SelectTab.value === 'Home') 
  homeTab.selected = true; 
else personTab.selected = true;                                         
}

Next Tab

This form contains a trigger control at the bottom of each tab labeled "Next". When "Next" is clicked the trigger rule executes and makes the next tab the selected tab. This assists the user in navigating through the form. The Tabs are named T1, T2, T3, T4. The trigger controls are named C1, C2, C3

// Navigate Tabs 
if (C1.clicked) { 
    T2.selected = true; 
} else if (C2.clicked) {
    T3.selected = true; 
} else if (C3.clicked) { 
    T4.selected = true; 
} 

Expand/Collapse Section

This form has three sections. The first section is expanded and the 2nd and 3rd are collapsed. When the user files in the 1st section they click a "Next" trigger control which causes that section to collapse and the next section to expand. The trigger controls are named next1 and next2. And the sections are named: step1, step2, step3. 

if(next1.clicked) 
{ 
    step1.expanded = false; 
    step2.expanded = true; 
}

if(next2.clicked) 
{ 
    step2.expanded = false; 
    step3.expanded = true; 
}

Security Subject Information

You can use a form.load rule to pre-populate fields in your form with information about the currently logged in user. For example, if you have controls in your form named Id, FirstName, LastName, Email and Roles, the following rule will prefill those fields as indicated below.

var x;
if (form.load) { 
    // User Information 
    Id.value = _data.getParameter('subject.id'); // Username 
    FirstName.value = _data.getParameter('subject.first.name'); 
    LastName.value = _data.getParameter('subject.last.name'); 
    Email.value = _data.getParameter('subject.email'); 
 
    var roles = _data.getParameter ("subject.roles"); 
    if (roles) { 
        eval ('x=' + roles); 
        Roles.options = x; 
    } 
}

This rule is useful in a workflow where you want to make a the tab named Review visible only for the workflow activity named Manager Review.

" + CurrentTitle2.value + "<br/>" + 
"Start Date: " + StartDate.value + "<br/>"; 
}

FinancialSummaryMsg.value = 
"<b>Total Assets:</b> $" + totalAssets + 
"<br/>" + "Total Bank Assets: $" + TotalBankValue.value + "<br/>" + 
"Total Real Estate Value: $" + TotalRealEstateValue.value + "<br/>" + 
"Total Auto Value: $" + TotalAutoValue.value + "<br/>";

Note when using field values from repeat controls you must use a javascript var and assign the concatenation to the var and then the var to the  message control value. For example imagine you have a message control named Summary and a repeat control named Account:

var acctSummary = ''; 
for (var i = 0; i < Account.value.length; i++) { 
    if (Q[i].value > 0) { 
        acctSummary = acctSummary + 'Account #' + i + ': ' + Account[i].value + '<br/>'; 
    } 
} 
Summary.value = acctSummary;

Dynamic Labels, Help, Hints

You can set the value of control labels, help and hint dynamically in a rule. For example imagine you do not know the label, help or hint at design time but would rather set it dynamically when a user opens your form.

if (form.load) 
{ 
  Text99.label = 'New Label'; 
  Text99.hint = 'New Hint'; 
  Text99.help = 'New Help'; 
}

In the above example the label, help and hint is still hard-coded. It's just being set from the rule rather than in the form designer controls' properties. To make this more useful you can initialize these properties from _data parameters:

if (form.load)
{ 
   Text99.label = _data.getParameter('label'); 
   Text99.hint = _data.getParameter('hint'); 
   Text99.help = _data.getParameter('help'); 
}

Since _data.getParameter enables access to values passed to the form that are not bound to actual controls this is often a very useful pattern.

Visible/Invisible

This rule makes the message control nickNameThankYou visible when the user enters a value into the nickName input text control. And then hides the message control if the user deletes the value in nickName.

if (nickName.value.length > 0 ) 
{ 
    nickNameThankYou.visible = true; 
} 
else 
{  
    nickNameThankYou.visible = false; 
}

Visible/Invisible Section

Often section controls contain many inner controls. For example imagine a form that contains a person's medical history. One of the questions on the form asks if the patient uses a hearing aid. If they answer yes, then you want to collect more details on their hearing aid usage such as left ear, right ear, bilateral; hearing aid brand; etc. If they answer no then you want to hide all the questions specific to hearing aids. Also when the answer is yes you want to require them to answer all the hearing aid detailed questions.

Imagine this example form has a section named HearingAid. By default HearingAid visible is set to false in the form designer.

When they answer yes, you must set HearingAid.visible=true AND also each required field inside the section to field.required = true. If they then change the answer to no then another rule makes the HearingAid.visible=false AND all the field.required=false. If the HearingAid section contains many child controls this rule becomes very long and tedious to write

We can simplify this by using the required property for sections. In the designer default all controls that must be answered inside HearingAid to required. Default the HearingAid section to not required and not visisble. Your rule can be much simpler. By setting HearingAid.required=false all the inner controls recursively also become required=false.

if (useAid.value === 'no') {
    // Hide 
    HearingAid.visible = false; 
    HearingAid.required = false; 
} else { 
    // Show 
    HearingAid.visible = true; 
    HearingAid.required = true; 
} 

Select Tab

This rule makes a specific tab the selected tab based on the choice of a radio control. The radio is named SelectTab and has three options: person, auto, home. The tabs are named personTab, autoTab and homeTab. Tabs also can be selected based on trigger controls or other input controls using the same method show here. 

if (SelectTab.value.length > 0) { 
  autoTab.selected = false; 
  homeTab.selected = false; 
  personTab.selected = false; 
 
if (SelectTab.value === 'Auto') 
  autoTab.selected = true; 
else if (SelectTab.value === 'Home') 
  homeTab.selected = true; 
else personTab.selected = true;                                         
}

Next Tab

This form contains a trigger control at the bottom of each tab labeled "Next". When "Next" is clicked the trigger rule executes and makes the next tab the selected tab. This assists the user in navigating through the form. The Tabs are named T1, T2, T3, T4. The trigger controls are named C1, C2, C3

// Navigate Tabs 
if (C1.clicked) { 
    T2.selected = true; 
} else if (C2.clicked) {
    T3.selected = true; 
} else if (C3.clicked) { 
    T4.selected = true; 
} 

Expand/Collapse Section

This form has three sections. The first section is expanded and the 2nd and 3rd are collapsed. When the user files in the 1st section they click a "Next" trigger control which causes that section to collapse and the next section to expand. The trigger controls are named next1 and next2. And the sections are named: step1, step2, step3. 

if(next1.clicked) 
{ 
    step1.expanded = false; 
    step2.expanded = true; 
}

if(next2.clicked) 
{ 
    step2.expanded = false; 
    step3.expanded = true; 
}

Security Subject Information

You can use a form.load rule to pre-populate fields in your form with information about the currently logged in user. For example, if you have controls in your form named Id, FirstName, LastName, Email and Roles, the following rule will prefill those fields as indicated below.

var x;
if (form.load) { 
    if (// User Information 
    Id.value = _data.getParameter('flowsubject.activity.nameid'); === 'Manager Review')// Username 
 {         Review.visibleFirstName.value = true_data.getParameter('subject.first.name'); 
    } 
}

Multiple Choice

This rule makes the appropriate input text controls visible depending on the choice a user makes in a radio option controls searchChoice.

if (searchChoiceLastName.value === 'Organizations_data.getParameter('subject.last.name') ; {
    orgnameEmail.visiblevalue = true_data.getParameter('subject.email'); 
 
   firstname.visible =var false;roles = _data.getParameter ("subject.roles"); 
 lastname.visible = false; if (roles) { 
 clientId.visible = false;  }  else ifeval (searchChoice.value === 'Individuals') 
{'x=' + roles); 
        orgnameRoles.visibleoptions = falsex; 
    firstname.visible = true;} 
}

This rule is useful in a workflow where you want to make a the tab named Review visible only for the workflow activity named Manager Review.

if (form.load) { 
     lastname.visible = true;if (_data.getParameter('flow.activity.name') === 'Manager Review')  {
        clientIdReview.visible = falsetrue; 
    } else 
}

Multiple Choice

This rule makes the appropriate input text controls visible depending on the choice a user makes in a radio option controls searchChoice.

if (searchChoice.value === 'Client IDOrganizations') 
{
     orgname.visible = falsetrue; 
    firstname.visible = false; 
    lastname.visible = false; 
    clientId.visible = truefalse; 
} 

Dynamic Options

...

 
else if (searchChoice.value === 'Individuals') 
{ 
    orgname.visible = false; 
    firstname.visible = true; 
    lastname.visible = true; 
    clientId.visible = false; 
} else if (searchChoice.value === 'Client ID') 
{ 
    orgname.visible = false; 
    firstname.visible = false; 
    lastname.visible = false; 
    clientId.visible = true; 
} 

Dynamic Options

Selection controls' (radios, checkboxes, dropdowns, T/F) options can be set dynamically via rules rather than statically via the control's options property. However if the control comes from an XSD schema data source rather than one of the standard palette controls, then the designer must take care to not set the options to something outside of what is valid for that schema element. For example if your XSD has a string enumeration and list valid options as 'red', 'green', and 'blue', then you should not use a rule to dynamically set the options to 'small', 'medium', 'large'. If you do then then your form will not work correctly in use mode. If a user selects the option 'small' they will get a validation error on the form. This is because 'small' is not one of the options allowed by your underlying XSD schema.

...

Age

This example form automatically determines today's date and then calculates the person's age in the control named 'Age' when they enter their birth date into the control named 'BirthDate'.

Image Added

if (BirthDate.value.length > 0) {
  var today = new Date();
  var dob = BirthDate.value.split('-'); 
  var dob2 = new Date(dob[0],dob[1]-1,dob[2]);
  var age = today.getFullYear() - dob2.getFullYear();
  if (today.getMonth() < dob2.getMonth() || 
     (today.getMonth() === dob2.getMonth() &&
      today.getDate() < dob2.getDate())) {
    age -= 1;
  }
  if (age >= 0) {
     Age.value = age;
  } else {
     Age.value = null;
  }
}

Duration

This form initializes the hospital discharge date using a rule, and when the user enters the admission date a 2nd rule calculates the number of days the patient stayed in the hospital.

...

/ Calculate Hospital Stay Duration 
if (A.value !== '' && D.value !== '') { 
    var da = A.value.split('-'); 
    var Ams = new Date(da[0],da[1],da[2]); 
    da = D.value.split('-'); 
    var Dms = new Date(da[0],da[1],da[2]);
 
    if (Ams > Dms) { 
        Days.value = 'Discharge date must be after Admission Date'; 
    } else { 
        Days.value = (Dms - Ams) / (1000*60*60*24) + ' days'; 
    } 
}

Duration

...

Between Date

...

and Time

...

 

Here is a rule example to calculate the time difference between two Date/Time values in hours:minutes format :  

Code Block

if (StartDateTime.value !== '' && EndDateTime.value !== '') { var d = StartDateTime.value.split('-'); var d1 = d[2].split('T'); var t = d1[1].split('Z')[0]; var t1 = t.split(':'); var startDate = new Date(d[0],d[1],d1[0], t1[0], t1[1], t1[2]); d = EndDateTime.value.split('-'); d1 = d[2].split('T'); t = d1[1].split('Z')[0]; var t1 = t.split(':'); var endDate = new Date(d[0],d[1],d1[0], t1[0], t1[1], t1[2]); var diff = endDate.getTime() - startDate.getTime(); var hours = Math.floor(diff / 1000 / 60 / 60); diff -= hours * 1000 * 60 * 60; var minutes = Math.floor(diff / 1000 / 60); TimeToComplete.value = (hours < 9 ? "0" : "") + hours + ":" + (minutes < 9 ? "0" : "") + minutes; }

...

One special consideration for tables is that rules which dynamically set the column header label, hint and help mesages must use the array syntax. This is somewhat counter-intuitive since each column appears to have only a single label, help and hint. Here is the rule to dynamically set these three properties: 

...

 

Code Block
FirstName[0].label = 'blah label'; FirstName[0].hint = 'blah hint'; FirstName[0].help = 'blah help';

Clearing Values in a Table

This rule clears the values from all rows in a table. Notice the For loop that iterates over all the rows. Inside the loop a null value is assigned to all the columns in the table row.

for (var i = 0; i < Col0.value.length; i++) { 
    Col0[i].value = null;
    Col1[i].value = null;
    Col2[i].value = null;
  } 

You cannot clear an entire table from a rule.

if(form.load){
 S[0].valid = false;
 TItem[0].valid = false;
}

...

if (form.load) { 
    if (_data.getParameter('flow.activity.name') === 'Manager Review') { 
Review.visible = true; 
    } 
} 

form.unload

Rules can be used to finalize field values after the users clicks the form's submit button but prior to the Form and Doc Action execution. Rules using form.unload are triggered when the form user clicks the submit button and for workflows when the user clicks continue to go to the next activity or finish to complete the flow.

...

A rule can dynamically display an image uploaded to your form via the upload control. In this example the upload control is named 'u'. The form also must contain a message control as a place holder for displaying the uploaded image. The rule dynamically creates a URL to the uploaded image in the temporary attachment repository. The upload control's value 'u.value' is a GUID that uniquely identifies the attachment. The uploaded image is included in the submissions pdf.

if (u.value.length > 0) {
  var baseUrl = _data.getParameter('_frevvo_base_url') + 
      "/frevvo/web/tn/" +
      _data.getParameter('tn.id') +
      "/user/"+_data.getParameter('user.id') +
      "/app/"+_data.getParameter('app.id') +
      "/form/"+_data.getParameter('form.id');
 
  im.value = "'<img src="'" +
         baseUrl + "'/attachment/"' + u.value+"'/does_not_matter'"/>"';
} 

Here is the example form before and after the user has uploaded the orangegrove.png image:

...