Designer Studio — 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 right-click a class name or category name in the Application Explorer.
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.

Use any of these methods to access the New dialog

• Enter the keyboard shortcut CTRL +N.
• When the Application Explorer is visible, select a class name, right-click, and select New.
• When the Application Explorer is visible, select a category (within a class), right-click, and select New.
• When the toolbar is visible, click the New toolbar button ()

Chose a category, then a type. 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 checkbox 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 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, 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.

The Type field appears if Pega-Mobile is part of your application RuleSet list. Select Standard if this navigation rule is being developed for applications running non-mobile devices. Select Mobile if this navigation rule is being developed for mobile devices such as Iphones or tablets. The type is used as an indicator for display of fields specific to mobile devices. If your application will be accessed by standard and mobile devices, create a navigation rule for each and specify the correct navigation rule in the appropriate portal.

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

A few standard flows, harnesses, flow actions, and sections 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. PRPC 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 PRPC's interfaces. Select an interface. (Traditionally, this designation indicates an intention to not 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 harnesses and flows. (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 > Applications > Tools > 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. You can change this value anytime later by clicking the Availability button () to open a window in which to update the Status value.

If Project Management is enabled for your application, additional fields display in the Project Management section in the New window that allow you to link your development changes to project items assigned to you. Depending on the type of project item (user story, bug, task or issue) some or all of the information entered here is transferred via the Project Management communication link to the item in the Project Management Framework.

If you want to record and track rule changes related to a project item on your Project Worklist:

1. Select the Project Item you want to link to this rule. The list defaults from your Project Worklist.
2. The Description field defaults to the description of the project item you select.
3. If you select a bug or a task item the following two fields display.
   In the Additional Worked field, enter the amount of time you have spent working on this item since the last time you recorded effort. The time you add is added to the Actual Hours of the item.
   In the Remaining Hours field, enter the amount of time you think remains until the work on the item is completed. This time updates the Remaining Hours of the item.
4. In the Note field, add a development note. Adds the note to the Notes tab of the item.

You can view a list of the rule changes in a separate window when you click the View Changes link from the worklist. You can choose display a list of your changes from the My Changes tab or all rule changes in the application from the All Changes tab.

For more information about the framework and tracking development progress, see the PDN publicationProject Management Framework User Guide.

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 properties, 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.