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:

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.

Builtin Functions

The following functions are available in the Rule Builder for building expressions. Function names may be entered in any case (case insensitive).

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.

Operators

Use these operators to build useful expressions:

Action wizard 

Declare the actions that should be taken when the condition is true. The Functions/Operators listed above can also be selected as the value in this wizard.

Else Action wizard

Declare the actions that should be taken when the condition is false. The Functions/Operators listed above can also be selected as the value in this wizard. 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.

Add A Rule

1. Click the Run Builder button.
2. Click the Add Condition button to create a new condition (optional).
3. Select your Field or select current step to describe an action that will execute based on the workflow step currently executing.
4. Select the Action from the dropdown.

5. 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
6. Click Next to advance to the Action wizard.
7. Specify the actions to be taken if the condition is true.
8. Click Next to advance to the Else Action wizard
9. Specify the actions to be taken if the condition is false.
10. Click Finish.
11. Save your form/workflow.
12. 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.

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

Delete a Rule

Click the icon in the Rules Validator next to the rule you want to delete. You will be asked to confirm.

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.
  
  

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.

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

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.

Examples

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