Defining columns

You define a condition column by specifying a condition statement. You define an action column by specifying an action statement.

About this task

A decision table must have at least one condition column and one action column. You can define condition and action columns using the decision table editor.

In a condition column, you enter a condition statement where you define what the comparison will be, but not the value of the comparison.

A condition statement is an incomplete BAL predicate expression whose placeholders are mapped to specific subcolumns. Placeholders are specific tokens enclosed within < and >. They can represent a concept from the vocabulary (for example, <an object>, <a loan>, or <a string>), or empty text defined in the vocabulary phrase, such as is between <min> and <max>.

If you create a condition statement that has more than one placeholder, the required subcolumns are automatically created. If the expression does not contain any placeholders, Rule Designer completes the expression with an ... is a <boolean> statement so that it has a placeholder.

Note: Placeholders can appear anywhere in the expression. However, a warning may appear if there is any ambiguity about the expected definition.

In an action column, you specify each action to take in each of the specified situations.

Procedure

To define condition and action columns:

Use the decision table editor to define the required columns, as summarized in the following table:

To define a condition column:	To define an action column:
Double-click a condition column. The Condition Column window opens. In the Title field, type the required column title. In the Test field, double-click `<condition>` and construct your condition statement in the Column Expression Editor using the available elements from the vocabulary.	Double-click an action column. The Action Column window opens. In the Title field, type the required column title. In the Action field, double-click `<action>` and construct your action statement in the Action Expression Editor using the available elements from the vocabulary. To define an action column in the decision table editor edit bar, click a cell in the action column you want to define, and select the required action.

To define a condition column:

To define an action column:

Double-click a condition column. The Condition Column window opens.
In the Title field, type the required column title.
In the Test field, double-click <condition> and construct your condition statement in the Column Expression Editor using the available elements from the vocabulary.

Double-click an action column. The Action Column window opens.
In the Title field, type the required column title.
In the Action field, double-click <action> and construct your action statement in the Action Expression Editor using the available elements from the vocabulary.

To define an action column in the decision table editor edit bar, click a cell in the action column you want to define, and select the required action.

Note: Press CTRL + SPACEBAR to open the Content Assist box when constructing your condition or action statement.

When you have constructed your condition or action statement, click OK.

Results

Your columns are now defined. If you need to redefine a column at any time, double-click the column header and change the required details.

When you have defined at least one condition column and an action column, you can begin to specify values for the placeholders in the condition and action definitions. See Specifying values and operators for details.