Developer portal basics — Completing the new rule dialog box

As you complete the New form, you provide one or more parts that together determine the external form of a unique rule key. (In some other object-oriented environments, this is called object creation, instantiation, or the New() function.)

Use these steps to complete the process:

1. Click the New toolbar button ( ) or select Application > New > Rule.
2. Choose a category, one of the fourteen (or more) broad groupings of rule and data classes.
3. Choose a Type — a rule type or data class common name — within that category.
4. Selecting an Applies To class filter.
5. Enter one to three parts that together name the new rule. The key parts together must form a unique visible key (within the selected RuleSet).
6. Complete the RuleSet and Version resolution fields if they appear.
7. Complete the Availability field.
8. If the application uses the optional project management interface, complete the Project field.
9. Click  Create .

From the Developer portal menu, choose Application > New > Rule > Category > Type to open the New dialog. Or when the toolbar is visible, click the New toolbar button () or enter the equivalent keyboard shortcut CTRL +N.

The Type determines which rule type or data class is created. Accept the default type shown as the Type, or click that type to pick a category and then a type.

The form changes to identify fields appropriate to that type.

You can't select a data class that does not belong to a category. For such cases, review help topics for each data class for instructions.

Select a filter to restrict the SmartPrompt list of Applies To classes to a smaller, more relevant subset of classes. This avoids searching long lists of classes that are not part of your implementation or framework and eliminates validation errors caused by creating instances in the wrong RuleSets.

The filter appears only when you create a rule that requires an Applies To class as part of its key structure, such as a property or activity rule.

1. Click the Filter By link to display a pop-up window and select a filtering option.

• Implementation— Displays classes that belong to the Application RuleSets list in your Operator profile
• Framework — Displays classes that belong to any RuleSet version in the RuleSet list in your Operator profile and not included in the Application RuleSet list (omitting the Pega- classes)
• All — Displays classes that belong to both the Application RuleSet and RuleSets lists in your Operator profile and Pega- classes

2. Select the Include Index/History classes check box to include internal Index- and History- classes in the SmartPrompt list.

The distinction between implementation classes and framework classes becomes more meaningful when your applications are built and extended using the Enterprise Application Accelerator. For implementation classes, the second segment of the class name is a division name, for example MyCo-Treasury-Payables. For framework classes, the second segment is the placeholder FW, indicating a framework; for example MyCo-FW-Payables.

Complete the key fields (often labeled Name). Use SmartPrompt if it is available. Generally, start each key part with a letter and use only letters, digits, and the dash character. (Certain rule types have additional restrictions on names.)

Click the help icon () to learn more about the key parts for the type.

Many rule types require a class as a key part, often with the label Applies To. Generally, choose the most specific class — that is, lowest in the class hierarchy — that serves the needs of your application. For example, choose MyCo-LoanDiv-MortgageApplication rather than MyCo-LoanDiv- as the Applies To class for a new flow or property rule, unless you are certain that the rule is applicable to all the objects in every class derived from MyCo-LoanDiv-.

Some classes may not be appropriate as the Applies To key part, or may not be appropriate for your RuleSet. For example, you cannot save a rule with Data-North as the Applies To class into the South RuleSet if the class Data-North class is restricted to (say) the North RuleSet.

See Choosing good rule and data instance names for more about names.

Optional. When creating a flow rule, harness rule, section rule, or flow action rule, you can copy a template.

A few standard flow rules, harness rules, flow actions, and section rules are known as templates. These rules have special characteristics and settings.

If the Template field appears on the New dialog, you can select one to use as a base (similar to copying) for this rule. This can save time and typing.

Identify the RuleSet and version for the new rule. Process Commander supplies default values for these if the access group referenced in your Operator ID data instance contains default values. The RuleSet Name list and version list include only those that appear on your RuleSet list and that are not locked.

You can select any RuleSet and version values from the list, if your choice meets the prerequisites RuleSets and version requirements in the -RuleSet Version..

Rule resolution applies to all but a few rule types. See rule resolution for a definition and a list of the exceptions.

Choose an initial availability value for the new rule. You can change this value anytime later using the Availability button (). Choose Yes, No/Draft Mode, Blocked, Final, or Withdrawn:

• Yes to make this version of this rule available to rule resolution and skimming.
• No/Draft Mode to make this version of this rule unavailable and never found during rule resolution or skimming by any user regardless of other rule settings, and to allow to rule to be saved with invalid fields.
• Blocked to make this version and all lower versions of this rule unavailable to rule resolution or skimming.
• Final to make this rule available to rule resolution and skimming, but also to prevent this version of the rule from being saved in another RuleSet with the same key. You can save it, however, as a higher version in the same RuleSet.
• Withdrawn to make this rule and other rules that have in common the visible key, RuleSet, major version, and circumstance qualifications from being selected by rule resolution. For details and benefits of this Availability value, see withdrawn rule.

Exceptions: The Available field is not present on a few rule forms. For example, Rule-Obj-Class instances are always available.

After you save this rule instance, you can change the availability value during the Availability () or Save As () operations.

Leave the Status field blank except in special situations. Select:

• API — To associate this rule with one of Process Commander's interfaces. Select an interface. (Traditionally, this designation indicates an intent not to change the functionality of the rule in future releases.)
• Template— To mark this rule as a template, to appear in the Template field. Useful for harness and flow rules. (See step 4 above)
• Extension — To mark this rule as an extension point of a framework, to be overridden in each implementation of the framework. Extensions are specified by framework developers for rules that are intended to be overwritten or copied down to the implementation class.  (If the current application was developed using the Enterprise Application Accelerator, select Application > Direct Capture of Objectives > List Extensions to list rules with this status.)

The value you select for this property (Rule-.pyMethodStatus) does not affect validation, execution, rule resolution, or migration of the rule. The value does not appear on the rule form and cannot be changed later.

If the Project Management interface is enabled for this application, select the TaskID you want to associate with this rule.

The Project Explorer displays a link to this rule under the TaskID you specify making it easy to find rules modified as a part of this task. See About the Project Explorer and the project management interface.

Click  Create   to reserve the rule key you have entered and to view the rule form. (This is an intermediate step; it does not save a complete, valid rule.

For simple field value rules, when condition rules and Single Value property rules, you can complete the rule creation and bypass the rule form if you choose the Quick Create button rather than the Create button. Review the relevant help topics for details.

Several restrictions may prevent the New or Save As operation from completing. This list explains common situations:

• Applies To class — When creating a rule that references a class as a first key part, restrictions of that class may apply. These are recorded on the Restrictions tab of the Class form. For example, if class Alpha-One- belongs to RuleSet ALPHA, a restriction may prevent you from creating subclasses of Alpha-One- in RuleSet BETA, or from creating rules in RuleSet BETA with Alpha-One- as the Applies To key part.
• Duplicate name — You cannot create a rule instance that has the same name and the same RuleSet, version, circumstance, and so on as an existing rule.
• Reserved names — You cannot create properties with a property name that starts with pz. You cannot create properties with a property name that starts with px or py, unless overriding a standard property.
• Final rule or internal rule — You cannot create a rule that overrides a final rule, including an internal rule (not visible).
• This toolbar is restricted to users who hold the privilege @baseclass.ToolbarFull or @baseclass.ToolbarNew.