About Decision Table rules

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Purpose

Use a decision table to derive a value that has one of a few possible outcomes, where each outcome can be detected by a test condition. A decision table rule lists two or more rows, each containing test conditions, optional actions, and a result.

At runtime, the system evaluates the rows starting at the topmost row:

• If any of the conditions in a row evaluate to false, processing continues with the next row. The Actions columns and Return column for that row are ignored.
• If all the conditions in a row evaluate to true, then the Actions and Return columns of that row are processed. What happens next depends on the Evaluate All Rows check box (on the Results tab).
• If the Evaluate All Rows check box is not selected, processing ends and the system returns the value in the Return column as the value of the entire rule. If Evaluate All Rows box is selected, processing continues through all remaining rows, performing the Actions and Return calculations for any rows for which the conditions are all true.
• If for no rows in the table do all conditions evaluate to true, the system returns a default result.

Where referenced

Rules of four other types can reference decision table rules:

• In a flow rule, you can reference a decision table rule in a decision task, identified by the Decision shape ().
• In an activity, you can evaluate a decision tree using the Property-Map-DecisionTable method.
• A Declare Expression rule can call a decision table rule.
• A collection rule can call a decision table rule.

Access

Use the Policy Decisions slice () or Application Explorer to access decision table rules that apply to work types in your application. Use the Rules by Type Explorer to list all the decision table rules available to you.

Development

When creating a rule that is to return only one of a small number of possible values, complete the Results tab before the Table tab.

Delegation

After you complete initial development and testing, you can delegate selected decision table rules to line business managers. The Table tab of the Decision Table form provides managers access to the fields most often updated.

For each decision table rule in your application, consider which business changes might require rule updates, and whether to delegate the rule to non-developers who then can make such updates directly. See How to build for change.

Category

Decision table rules are instances of the Rule-Declare-DecisionTable class. They are part of the Decision category.

How to unit test a decision table rule

Decision category
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