Overview

The Visual Rules Builder enables non-technical designers to add dynamic behaviors to a form/workflow. Here are several behaviors that you can create:

Show/Hide a Control(s) based on a specified condition
Show/Hide Steps in a workflow based on the step that the workflow is currently executing
Dynamically setting default values and control properties such as valid, printable, required and more.
Compute a Subtotal and Total
Populate fields with the logged in user’s information
Concatenate field data
Populate a Date field when the user signs

and much more....

Watch this webinar for an overview of how to create dynamic forms/workflows without writing code.

When Do Rules Execute

Business Rules are executed under the following conditions:

When the form/workflow loads.
When a control's value that the rule depends on changes.
When you add a row to a Table control or click on the icon to add a repeating item.

If you want your rule to run Only when the form loads - check the Initialization Only checkbox at the top of the wizard. Typically, you would check this if there is some business logic that you want to execute before the form/workflow displays and users begin interacting with it.

When the rule displays in the Rule Builder tab, it will indicate that the rule has been flagged to run only when the form loads, if this checkbox is checked.

Rule Builder Wizards

The Rule Builder walks you through three easy steps to define your condition and actions.

Condition Wizard

Describe the conditions under which a set of actions should be executed. You can specify more than one condition in the same rule but you do not need a condition.

Each condition consists of the following:

Part

Description

Example

Field or current step (Optional)

What field or current workflow step do you want to evaluate?

Select a field in your form, such as 'FirstName'.

Operator

What condition do you want to test to see if it is true?

Select an operator such as "is filled".

Value (Optional)

What value do you want to compare the Field or current step to?

What function/operator do you want to use to build the expression?

Let's say you select "Current Step" and "is" for the first two parts. Now select the step from the list shown:

The left side Field and right side Value must be of a matching type. For example, you cannot use numeric expressions with text controls. If you've selected an incompatible value type, Help Mode will show an error to help you correct it.

When you use the VRB "contains" condition on a checkbox control, you must set the literal value to the full, exact option value. On radio and dropdown controls, partial values work, but since the Checkbox value is an array, the rule is looking for the entire option value in the array and cannot find any partial value.

For example, checkbox "C" has options "Option_1", "Option_2", "Option_3". If you use the VRB rule When C contains "1", it always evaluates to false. If you change the condition to When C contains "Option_1" the rule works as expected.

Action Wizard

Declare the actions that should be taken when the condition is true. Similar to the Condition Wizard above, the wizard has three parts: Field, Operator, and Value. Functions and Operators can also be selected as the value in this wizard. Only relevant operators will be shown based on the selected field.

Here's an example that sets the TotalDue control to the sum of the Amount controls (a table column) minus the CashAdvance control.

Else Action Wizard

Declare the actions that should be taken when the condition is false. Similar to the Condition Wizard above, the wizard has three parts: Field, Operator, and Value. Functions and Operators can also be selected as the value in this wizard. Only relevant operators will be shown based on the selected field. Else Actions are optional as not all rules require them. You cannot add FALSE actions if you do not have a condition specified in the rule.

In this example, we've set a condition that checks to see if the PeriodTo date is before the PeriodFrom date. If that is true, it sets the PeriodTo control to invalid. If that condition is FALSE, it sets PeriodTo to valid.

Built In Functions

The Visual Rule Builder (VRB) provides the following functions, no code required!

Refer to the Visual Rule Builder chapter or watch this 6-minute video for an overview of how to create dynamic forms/workflows without writing code.

Functions are entered into the Enter an Expression field in the wizards.

This field has two modes:

Lookup Mode
Help Mode

Lookup Mode

Lookup mode displays functions and controls from your form/workflow. The functions matching the typed text are displayed first followed by the form/workflow controls.

Lookup Mode is triggered as you enter text in the Value fields of the wizards.

Help Mode

Help mode shows help text for the function in the dropdown area. The help information includes:

function syntax
summary info about the function
an example
parameter information.

Expressions must have the same value type as the control. For example, the functions hour and minute are only available on Time controls. If there is a type discrepancy, the designer will see an error like this:

DateTime controls are meant to represent a point in time and therefor do not support the functions Year, Month, Day, Hour, or Minute.
Message controls cannot be used in the expression field, even if they have Save Value checked. To set the value of another control to a message control's value, switch to Rule Code.

Functions Available

The tables below explain each function. When you are using the Visual Rule Builder, you can see the functions' summaries, parameters, and an example of how to use the function as you type in and select the function. In use, function names are followed by parenthesis, which contain the comma-separated parameter(s) of the function. For example, if you want to add two fields using the sum function, enter sum(<controlname1>,<controlname2>). The VRB will guide you to this syntax and let you know if there are any syntax errors. Function names may be entered in any case (case insensitive).

VRB Function syntax

sum(price_1, price_2)

When referencing repeat controls and tables, you only need to use the child control name (i.e. the column control name) in the VRB. frevvo takes care of looping through the repeat/table for you.

User Details Functions

Function	Summary	Parameters
userFirstName	Used to retrieve the user's first name for the current user or for a specific userId. Returns the first name string.	userId - The optional userId of the user to get the first name for. This parameter can be any text expression. If not supplied, then this function returns the first name for the current logged in user.
userLastName	Used to retrieve the user's last name for the current user or for a specific userId. Returns the last name string.	userId - The optional userId of the user to get the last name for. This parameter can be any text expression. If not supplied, then this function returns the last name for the current logged in user.
userFullName	Used to retrieve the user's full name for the current user or for a specific userId. Returns the full name string.	userId - The optional userId of the user to get the full name for. This parameter can be any text expression. If not supplied, then this function returns the full name for the current logged in user.
userEmail	Used to retrieve the user's email for the current user or for a specific userId. Returns the email string.	userId - The optional userId of the user to get the email for. This parameter can be any text expression. If not supplied, then this function returns the email for the current logged in user.
userID	Used to retrieve the userID for the current user or for a specific userId. Returns the id string.	userId - The optional userId of the user to get the id for (typically not used). This parameter can be any text expression. If not supplied, then this function returns the id for the current logged in user.
userManagerID	Used to retrieve the user's manager's user ID for the current user or for a specific userId. Returns the manager user id string.	userId - The optional userId of the user to get the user's manager's user ID for. This parameter can be any text expression. If not supplied, then this function returns the user's manager's user ID for the current logged in user.
userDetail	Used retrieve individual information fields for the currently logged in user. These fields can either be one of the standard fields or a custom field configured using the (ldap) security provider.	fieldName - The name of the user information property to retrieve. This parameter can be any text expression. The standard properties are 'id', 'first.name', 'last.name', 'email' and 'reports.to'.

Text and Boolean Functions

Function	Summary	Parameters
isFilled	Used to determine if a field (control) has a value. Returns true if the field has a value.	fieldName - The field/control to check for a value.
isEmpty	Used to determine if a field (control) does NOT have a value (i.e. it is not filled). Returns true if the field has no value.	fieldName - The field/control to be checked for no value.
textStartsWith	Tests if this string starts with the specified prefix. Returns true if the prefix parameter is a prefix of the str parameter; false otherwise.	str - The text to check the prefix of. May be control name, string literal, etc. prefix - The prefix text. May be control name, string literal, etc.
textEndsWith	Tests if this string ends with the specified suffix. Returns true if the suffix parameter is a suffix of the str parameter; false otherwise.	str - The text to check the suffix of. May be control name, string literal, etc. suffix - The suffix text. May be control name, string literal, etc.
textContains	Returns true if and only if str contains the specified tokenStr.	str - The text to check if the tokenStr is within. May be control name, string literal, etc. tokenStr - The text to search for. May be control name, string literal, etc.
textBefore	Gets the substring before the first occurrence of a separator. The separator is not returned. textBefore('tim@example.com', '@') = 'tim'.	str - The text to get a substring from, may be null or a control name as well. separator - The text to search for, may be null or a control name as well.
textAfter	Gets the substring after the first occurrence of a separator. The separator is not returned. textAfter('tim@example.com', '@') = 'example.com'.	str - The text to get a substring from, may be null or a control name as well. separator - The text to search for, may be null or a control name as well.
textBetween	Gets the String that is nested in between two Strings. Only the first match is returned. The open and close strings are not included. textBetween('tim@example.com', '@', '.com') = 'example'.	str - The text to get a substring from, may be null or a control name as well. open - The text before the substring, may be null or a control name as well. close - The text after the substring, may be null or a control name as well.
concat	Returns the text concatenation of a set of expressions.	expr1 - A control or expression. expr2 - The second control or expression value to be appended to the first. expr3 - Optional additional controls or expression(s).

Math and Numeric Functions

Function	Summary	Parameters
sum	Returns the sum of a set of numerical items represented by the input parameters. Parameters are expressions that may contain repeating and/or non-repeating controls.	expr1 - A control or expression. May contain repeating and/or non-repeating controls. expr2 - Optional additional controls or expression(s). May contain repeating control or non-repeating control values.
average	Returns the average of a set of numeric expressions.	expr1 - A numerical expression. May involve repeating control or non-repeating control values. expr2 - Optional additional numerical expression(s). May involve repeating control or non-repeating control values.
minimum	Returns the minimum value of a set of numerical items represented by the input parameters. Parameters are expressions that may contain repeating and/or non-repeating controls.	expr1 - A control or expression. May contain repeating and/or non-repeating controls. expr2 - Optional additional controls or expression(s). May contain repeating control or non-repeating control values.
maximum	Returns the maximum value of a set of numerical items represented by the input parameters. Parameters are expressions that may contain repeating and/or non-repeating controls.	expr1 - A control or expression. May contain repeating and/or non-repeating controls. expr2 - Optional additional controls or expression(s). May contain repeating control or non-repeating control values.
count	Returns the count of items in a control, typically a repeating control, but will accept non-repeating controls.	expr1 - A control or expression. Typically a repeating control, but will accept non-repeating controls. expr2 - Optional additional controls or expression(s). May involve repeating control or non-repeating control values.
sumif	Returns the sum of a set of numerical items in a repeating control. Takes a boolean filter expression parameter used to determine if each repeating item is included in the calculation.	expr - The name of a repeating control. filterExpr - A required boolean filter expression parameter used to determine if each repeating item is included in the calculation. May include operators, functions, literal values and/or non-repeating controls or repeating controls at the same level.
averageif	Returns the average of a repeating control's values. Takes a boolean filter expression parameter used to determine if each repeating item is included in the calculation.	expr - The name of a repeating control. filterExpr - A required boolean filter expression parameter used to determine if each repeating item is included in the calculation. May include operators, functions, literal values and/or non-repeating controls or repeating controls at the same level.
minimumif	Returns the minimum value of a set of numerical items in a repeating control. Takes a boolean filter expression parameter used to determine if each repeating item is included in the calculation.	expr - The name of a repeating control. filterExpr - A required boolean filter expression parameter used to determine if each repeating item is included in the calculation. May include operators, functions, literal values and/or non-repeating controls or repeating controls at the same level.
maximumif	Returns the maximum value of a set of numerical items in a repeating control. Takes a boolean filter expression parameter used to determine if each repeating item is included in the calculation.	expr - The name of a repeating control. filterExpr - A required boolean filter expression parameter used to determine if each repeating item is included in the calculation. May include operators, functions, literal values and/or non-repeating controls or repeating controls at the same level.
countif	Returns the count of items/values in a repeating control. Takes a boolean filter expression parameter used to determine if each repeating item is included in the calculation.	expr - The name of a repeating control. filterExpr - A required boolean filter expression parameter used to determine if each repeating item is included in the calculation. May include operators, functions, literal values and/or non-repeating controls or repeating controls at the same level.
round	Rounds a numeric value to the specified number of decimal digits using a "round half up" policy. The rounded value is returned.	num - The number that gets rounded. decimalDigits - The number of decimal digits to round the number to.
truncate	Truncates a decimal number to be an integer.	num - The number that gets truncated to an integer.

Date/Time Functions

Function	Summary	Parameters
today	Used to get the current date.	N/A
date	Used to create a date object.	year - The date's 4-digit year. month - The date's month (1=January) day - The day of the month.
time	Used to create a time of day object.	hour - The hour of the day (0-23). minute - The minutes (0-59).
timeofday	Used to get the current local time of day (hour and minute).	N/A
datetime	Used to create a dateTime object.	year - The 4-digit year. month - The month (1=January) day - The day of the month. hour - The hour of the day (0-23). minute - The minutes (0-59).
now	Used to get the current date and time.	N/A
year	Used to get the year from a date or dateTime object or control.	date - The date or datetime to get the year from.
month	Used to get the month (1-12) from a date or dateTime object or control.	date - The date or datetime to get the month from.
day	Used to get the day of the month (1-31) from a date or dateTime object or control.	date - The date or datetime to get the day from.
hour	Used to get the hour from a time object or control.	time - The time to get the hour from.
minute	Used to get the minute from a time object or control.	time - The time to get the minute from.
daysBetween	Used to get the number of days between date1 and date2. If date1 is earlier that date2, then the result is 0 or positive; otherwise 0 or negative.	date1 - The first date or date-time. date2 - The second date or date-time.
monthsBetween	Used to get the number of months between date1 and date2. If date1 is earlier that date2, then the result is 0 or positive; otherwise 0 or negative.	date1 - The first date or date-time. date2 - The second date or date-time.
yearsBetween	Used to get the number of years between date1 and date2. If date1 is earlier that date2, then the result is 0 or positive; otherwise 0 or negative.	date1 - The first date or date-time. date2 - The second date or date-time.

Operators

Use the Operators listed below to build the rule expression.

Operator	Name	Purpose	Example
+	Addition	Add two numeric sub-expressions	a + b
-	Subtraction	Subtract two numeric sub-expressions	a - b
*	Multiplication	Multiply two numeric sub-expressions	a * b
/	Division	Divide two numeric sub-expressions	a / b
+	Concatenation	Concatenate two text sub-expressions (Javascript only - for VRB use concat() function)	firstName + " " + lastName
and	Logical AND	Logically AND two boolean sub-expressions	isRetired AND isCollecting SS
or	Logical OR	Logically OR two boolean sub-expressions	isOnVacation OR isOnSickLeave
==	Equality	Compare two sub-expressions for equality	a == b
!=	Inequality	Compare two sub-expressions for inequality	a != b
>	Greater than	Compare two sub-expressions for greater than	a > b
>=	Greater than or equal	Compare two sub-expressions for greater than or equal	a >= b
<	Less than	Compare two sub-expressions for less than	a < b
<=	Less than or equal	Compare two sub-expressions for less than or equal	a <= b

In versions prior to v9.1, the '+' operator was used for both addition and concatenation. With the v9.1 upgrade, any '+' operators used for concatenation will be automatically updated to use the concat() function. Designers should use the concat() function for concatenation of text strings, and the '+' operator only for addition of numeric values. Using the '+' operator for concatenation will return an error prompting the designer to use concat() instead.

Rules can still be written by manually adding JavaScript in order to build any degree of complex & powerful business logic and integrate with all of your Web Services and frevvo connectors.

Add A Rule

Click the Run Builder button.
Click the Add Condition button to create a new condition (optional).
Select your Field or select current step to describe an action that will execute based on the workflow step currently executing.
Select the Action from the dropdown.
Select the Value, expression or function(optional). To enter a text value, slide the toggle switch icon to the right and a field displays to the right.
If current step is selected as the condition for a workflow designed using Linked Steps, the value dropdown displays the names of the linked steps as choices. Workflows designed with individual forms as steps (not linked) will only show that step in the current step value dropdown.
For example,
- If you have one form (named form A) in a workflow, you will only see form A listed in the current step value dropdown,
- If you add 2 linked steps (named form B and form C), the current step value dropdown lists all 3 steps: form A, form B and form C.
- If you add form D (not linked) to the workflow, form D will not be listed in the current step value dropdown for form A
Click Next to advance to the Action Wizard.
Specify the actions to be taken if the condition is true.
Click Next to advance to the Else Action Wizard
Specify the actions to be taken if the condition is false.
Click Finish.
Save your form/workflow.
Click the Save and Test icon to verify that your rule is working as expected.

Modify a Rule

Once completed, the entire rule can be viewed in the Rule Builder tab.

Click the pencil icon on whatever part of the rule you want to modify.
Click the up and down arrows on the right side to change the order of conditions and actions.

Click here for some information about what you will see if you change the name of a control

If you change the name of a control after you have written a rule that is dependent on it, the rule becomes invalid and displays in a pink background. Click all pencil icon(s) to find the error. The Next and Previous buttons are disabled until the rule is fixed.

Delete a Rule

Click the action menu for the rule you want to delete and select Delete. You will be asked to confirm.

Reorder Rules

It's easy to change the order of your rules. You may want to group your rules by workflow step, action or control type. Simply click and hold any rule, and drag it to the place in the list you want to move it. You may also use the "Move down," "Move Up," "Move Top," and "Move bottom" options in the rule's Action Menu.

Multiple Conditions in a Rule

The Rule Builder allows you to create a rule that has more than one condition. You can write a rule that performs actions based on the values of more than one field. As you select conditions, a logic expression is built and displayed at the bottom of the screen. Notice the expression uses the AND operation by default. There may be business rules that require a change to the logic expression.

The (AND operation) means that All of the specified conditions must be true before the actions set up in the Action Wizard are executed.
Change the (AND operation(s)) to (OR operation(s)) if only one of the conditions needs to be true before the actions are executed.
Group parts of the logic expression using parentheses if necessary.

Consider this example...

A Travel Request workflow contains a field where the user selects a destination country from a dropdown. Countries that call their subdivisions "states" are: United States, Mexico, Australia, Brazil, India, Germany and Myanmar.

The business requirement for this rule is: If any of these countries are selected, a Destination State field is enabled so the user can enter the Destination state. Otherwise, the Destination State field is disabled.

The Condition wizard for the business rule is shown in the image. Note that each condition is assigned a color coded number that is reflected in the logic expression. The logic expression is built with the and operator by default. Since we want the rule to execute when any of the conditions are true, we must change all the and operations in the logic expression to the or operation.

Switching to the Rule Code Tab

Rules created with the Rule Builder are automatically converted to JavaScript and co-exist with existing JavaScript rules. Of course, you can still add JavaScript directly or edit the generated code to make manual changes to your rule once you have created it with the Rule Builder.

Click the Rule Code tab then click on Edit Code tab to add/edit JavaScript.

Clicking the Edit Code button permanently disables the Rule Builder for this rule.

Future Releases of the Visual Rule Builder

We’re constantly working on improving our product to reduce the need to write code. Making JavaScript rules easier is one of the highest priority items.

This version of the Visual Rule Builder does not currently support screenflows that use the Navigation toolbar to move back and forth between screenflow steps.

Examples

The Rule Examples chapter shows you how to use the Visual Rule Builder to create common rules for real world situations.

The User Info, Numeric, Boolean and Date/Time functions, added to the Visual Rule Builder, are not available in the Precondition Rule Builder. Only the following operators are supported in precondition expressions:
- + (add and concat)
- -
- * (multiply)
- /