Chapter 3: Building Production Objects

Defining stream output rules

When you select stream as the output mode, the right pane of the Production Object Information window displays Stream Output Rules.

An output rule is a logical container for a single discrete portion of an output transaction and includes the rule components and filters. A rule component determines which pieces of data (which input objects) to manipulate and place into the rule object’s output message area.

Output rules are contained in an output rules list that describes the order in which rules are run. A concatenation of each output rule’s output creates the output transaction.

You can view all existing rules in the TRAN-IDE main window.

Defining output rules

In the main TRAN-IDE window, select View | Output Rules or click the Rules icon to list existing output rules for a loaded project and module.

Click the SubRules icon to view all rule component objects for the selected project and module.
To build a new output rule, click New below the Stream Output Rules pane in the TRAN-IDE window.

To change an existing output rule, double-click the rule name in the list.

The Current Output Rule window appears.

Complete these options:

Field (key)	Description
Name	An output rule’s name. If you select an existing rule, its name appears in this field. If you are building a new rule, enter a name in the space provided. Recommendation: Append “_r” or “rule” to all rule names.
Size	Enter zero, unless the rule output must equal a specific size. Zero tells the SFM that it can use as many or as few characters as necessary to build the output field from the output rule’s components and filters. If the rule output must be a specific size, enter the number of required characters.
Iterative	Run the output rule the number of times specified.
Error Function	Optional, but recommended. This error function runs in the event an error occurs during processing. In most cases, this function should attempt to fix the problem. If it cannot, the function must return a value of zero (0) to indicate that processing cannot continue. The SFM then performs the error function specified in the Production Object Information window. Select an existing error function from the drop-down list, or click the ellipsis to define a new Error Function.
FldGrp	Use this field to execute the output rule and its components and filters on input field objects that are defined as members of a group. Enter the name of the input field object for which the option “This Field Object Defines A Group” is selected, or select the field from the drop-down list. If you have Iterative set, this field is no longer used to specify a group to run through the output rule. Instead, the label changes to Max D/L and the field identifies the number of times to execute the Rule. See “Iterative” in this list for more information
Max D/L	When Iterative is selected, the FldGrp option changes to Max D/L, which identifies the datalink object that specifies the number of times to run the output rule. The output rule’s post-filter is run after each iteration of the rule. The datalink object in the Max D/L field can be an integer, a long integer, or an array. If the datalink specified in the Max D/L field is an array, the size of the array is the number of times the SFM runs the output rule. Otherwise, the numeric value in the datalink object is the number of times the SFM runs the rule. Select from the drop-down list of exiting datalinks or click the ellipsis to define a new datalink object. If the datalink specified for the Max D/L field is an array, `@NULL` appears. If, this option is selected, on each iteration, the rule checks the contents of the corresponding element of the array. The rule stops if a null value is encountered in an element of the array.
Index D/L	Optional. The name of the datalink object to hold the group instance number. Useful only when the rule is processing a group of input field objects (see FldGrp, above). Qualification objects can check the value in this datalink and only run the rule when this value equals 3.
Length D/L	Optional. The name of the datalink object to hold the size of the data generated by the rule object. e-Biz Impact calculates the size of the rule’s output blob after executing the rule’s post-filters, then places the size into this datalink object. The datalink object is always set to the size of the rule object’s output blob.
Value D/L	Optional. The name of the datalink object to hold a copy of the data generated by the rule object. e-Biz Impact places a copy of the rule’s output into this datalink object after executing the rule’s post-filters. Click the down arrow to the right of the field to select from a list of existing datalinks. Click the ellipsis button to open the Datalink Information window and define a new datalink object.
Default Value	A literal value that the rule places into the output transaction if: The group specified in the FldGroup entry is empty or missing. A rule component fails and the component does not have an entry in its Default Val field. A rule post-filter fails. The rule has no components or post-filters defined. When one of these conditions occurs, the SFM deletes all the output generated so far by the rule’s components from the rule object’s blob, places the default value into the blob, and continues processing the next rule. If this field is empty and one of the above conditions occurs, the SFM stops processing the transaction and places it in the unprocessable log file.
Components	Describe the pieces or parts of a single output rule. The output rule processes each component in order, starting with the first item in the list. When you click New, the Rule Component Information window appears. See “Defining rule components (subrules)”.
Post Filters	Performs additional processing on the output transaction. The output rule processes each filter in order, starting with the first item in the list. When you click New, the Filter Information window displays. See “Defining filter objects”.
No Default Separator	Do not automatically append the default rule separator to this rule object’s output. Useful only when rule separator is selected in the Production Object Information Options window.

Click OK to save the rule.

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