Expression Editor

The following guidelines can assist you in using the Expression editor when defining single rules, transformation, or expressions for an Assign activity.

Guidelines for using the Expression Editor

ObjectiveAction

Add constants and functions

Choose from the following:

  • Right-click in the Expression editor and select from the choice of constant or function options in the context menu.

  • Click inside the Expression editor and click the Tool Palette icon in the Fast view to display the constants and functions in the Tool Palette. Then, drag a function or constant from the Tool Palette onto the Expression editor.

Bind the source text of a constant to be the same as its logical name

  1. Select the constant in the expression.

  2. Select the Bind Source Text to Logical Name checkbox in the Properties for the Operation view.

Defining the data type of a constant

  1. Select the constant in the expression.

  2. Select a data type from the Data Type drop-down list.

    Note

    If you select time or dateTime as the Data Type, the time is adjusted to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) in the Dialog Service Test or the Web Service Client wizards.

    For example, 2006-03-07T17:00:00 (Mountain Standard Time) is sent as 2006-03-08T00:00:00.000Z (Greenwich Mean Time).

Display a graphical expression in a text format

Choose from:

  • Select the last operator in the expression and click Collapse in the Properties for the Properties for the Operation view.

  • Right-click the last operator in the expression and select Collapse from the context menu.

Return the text of a collapsed expression to a graphical format

Choose from:

  • Select the collapsed expression and click Expand in the Properties for the Properties for the Operation view.

  • Right-click the collapsed expression and select Expand from the context menu.

Using literals with special characters

Do not use special characters in string constants.

If you need to use a string constant that contains special characters, do the following:

  1. Create a local variable.

    See Defining Business Process Variables for more information.

  2. Assign the literal to the local variable. See Creating an Assign for more information.

  3. Use the local variable in the expression.

Creating an Assign

Adding a Single Rule to a Business Process

Creating a Transformation Service

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