Data Set rules - Completing the Create, Save As, or Specialization form

Records can be created in various ways. You can add a new record to your application or copy an existing one. You can specialize existing rules by creating a copy in a specific ruleset, against a different class or (in some cases) with a set of circumstance definitions. You can copy data instances but they do not support specialization because they are not versioned.

Based on your use case, you use the Create, Save As, or Specialization form to create the record. The number of fields and available options varies by record type. Start by familiarizing yourself with the generic layout of these forms and their common fields using the following Developer Help topics:

• Creating a rule
• Copying a rule or data instance
• Creating a specialized or circumstance rule

This information identifies the key parts and options that apply to the record type that you are creating.

Create a data set instance by selecting Data Set from the Data Model category. Besides identifying the instance and its context, you define the data set type according to the purpose of the data set in your application:

• Database table: use this type to manage data in database tables.
• Decision data store: use this type to manage data in decision data stores. The name of the data is used to define the Cassandra's column family name following the <datasetname>_<rulesetname>_branch_<rulesetname> pattern.
• Visual Business Director: use this type to manage custom VBD data sources. The name of the data set determines the name of the VBD data source. Since all applications in the same system use a single VBD server, the name of a data set must be unique in the system (across applications or levels in the proposition hierarchy).

The Apply To setting has a different meaning depending on the data set type:

• Database table: the database table class mapping defines the database table. The class also determines the exposed properties you can use to define keys.
• Decision data store: the class determines the exposed properties you can use to define keys.
• Visual Business Director: the class belongs to the Strategy Result class hierarchy. It can correspond to the class representing the top level (all business issues and groups), a specific business issue or a group.

Rule resolution

When searching for rules of this type, the system:

• Filters candidate rules based on a requestor's ruleset list of rulesets and versions
• Searches through ancestor classes in the class hierarchy for candidates when no matching rule is found in the starting class

Time-qualified and circumstance-qualified rule resolution features are not available for this rule type.