Back Forward Map Value form
Completing the Matrix tab

 About Map Value rules

zzz Show all 

This tab contains a table of one column (for a one-dimensional map value) or two or more columns (for a two-dimensional map value). The order of rows and columns is important. Process Commander evaluates rows from left to right, and columns from top to bottom.

Complete the Input tab before the Matrix tab. Labels that you enter on the Input tab appear on the Matrix tab to guide your input.

To limit possible results to values in a fixed list of constant values, complete the Results tab before the Matrix tab.

NoteIf the Redirect this Rule box on the Results tab is selected, this circumstance-qualified rule is redirected and the Matrix tab is not used.

zzz Adding rows and columns

You can add rows as desired for values of the Row Property Label identified on the Input tab, and add columns as desired for values of the Column Property Label identified on the Input tab:

Button

Results
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Delete the selected column. Focus moves to the column at its left.

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Delete the selected row. Focus moves to the row above.

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Insert a new column before (to the left of) the selected column.
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Insert a new column after (to the right of) the selected column.
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Insert a new row before (above) the selected row.
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Insert a new row after (below) the selected row.

As in Microsoft Excel, you can drag a row or column grid line to shrink or expand its width or height.

zzz Assessing completeness and consistency

Optionally, you can use these buttons to determine whether the map value rule is complete and consistent (based on a static evaluation).

Button

Results
 Show Conflicts  

Mark with a warning icon (zzz) any cells of the matrix that are unreachable. For example, if two rows are identical, the second row can never evaluate to true and so cannot affect the outcome of the rule.

Click the warning icon on a row to highlight with an orange background the other cells that cause a cell to be unreachable. The selected row is highlighted with a yellow background (zzz).

A map value rule that contains no such unreachable rows is called consistent.

Conflicts are also checked when you save the form, and when you run the Preflight check for the application.

Conflicts do not prevent the rule from validating or executing, but may indicate that the rule does not implement the intended decision.

 Show Completeness  

Automatically add suggested rows that cover additional cases and reduce or eliminate the situations that fall through to the Default row. Suggested additions appear with a light green background (zzz). They are only suggestions; you can alter or eliminate them.

zzz Editing in Microsoft Excel

You can edit this table using Microsoft Excel:

  1. Complete the Headers tab first.
  2. Access the Matrix tab, then click  Edit In Excel  .
  3. Update the table using Excel.
  4. Click Convert to exit Excel and save your results in this tab.

zzz Entering row and column header

Each row and column has a header that defines both a label and a comparison. To create, review or update a row or column header:

  1. Click an unlabeled button in a row or column header, or double-click an existing row or column header. A pop-up window appears.
  2. Select a comparison operator: < >=, >=, <= or is missing. (If you omit an operator, the system assumes =.) Select is missing to detect that a property is not present — not that it is present but has the null value.
  3. Enter an expression as the comparand. For each expression, you can enter a literal value, a property reference or a more complex expression, including function calls.

The keyword Default always evaluates to true and always appears as the final choice at the end of each row and end of each column. You can complete values for the Default row or leave them blank.

AdvancedDuring backward chaining computations for Declare Expression rule, if the Default row in a map value rule can be computed, but properties needed for other parts of the form are not defined, the Otherwise value is returned as the value of the rule. (In Process Commander releases before 5.3, this condition produced an exception that ended processing.)

zzz Completing a cell

If you completed a list of literal constant values on the Results tab, select one of those values for each cell.

Otherwise, enter an expression in the cell — a constant, a property reference, a function call, or other expression. For guidance while entering expressions, click the magnifying glass icon (zzz). See Using the Expression Builder. (You can enter complex expressions and use the Expression Builder only if the Allowed to Build Expressions? check box is selected on the Results tab.)

If a cell is blank but is selected by the runtime evaluation, the system returns the null value as the value of the map value rule.

zzz Cascading map value rules with Call

One map value cell can reference another map value rule as the source of its value. Type the word call followed by the name (the second key part) of another map value rule with the same first key part. SmartPrompt is available. Click the pencil icon (Pencil) to open the other map value rule.

If, at runtime, this map value rule executes in a backward-chaining mode (that is, the AllowMissingProperties parameter of the Property-Map-Value method is True), the called map value rule also executes in this mode.

zzz About Map Value rules