Columns
In the Business console, you can change the columns that define the conditions and actions for business rules in decision tables.
A decision table contains a group of similar rules that use different conditions and actions. Each row in a table forms a rule, and each column in a decision table represents a condition or an action. With the decision table editor, you can add or remove columns through the column menu, and change the constraints that are applied by each column. When you add or remove a column, you change the rule statement that is used by all the rules in the table.
Defining a column
To define the condition or action of a column, select the column by clicking the header of the column, or selecting a cell in the column and pressing Ctrl+Space. To edit the condition or action, open the contextual menu by right-clicking the column.
You can change the condition or action expression of a column whose associated cells are already
filled. The editor will try to apply the existing values in the cell to the new expression. When the
number of parameters differ, the editor retains only the values that can be applied. For example, if
you change the expression score is between <min and <max> to score
equals <number>, the <min> value becomes the
equal value. If the number of parameters increases, the editor keeps the values,
but you have to complete each cell so that a complete condition or action is specified.
Editing column titles and subtitles
To edit a column title or subtitle, click the part of the title that you want to change to open an input field. You can also open the input field by selecting a column and pressing Enter. The text that you enter in the title or subtitle does not change the rule statement of the column.
Sorting and filtering columns
When you click the arrow next to the column title, a window opens with sorting and filtering options.
You can sort the rows of a column in ascending or descending order. The row sorting also depends on the row ordering mode selected for the decision table (see Row ordering). When you preview a table for which no row ordering mode is explicitly set, the default view is in Manual mode, and sorting restrictions apply. For example, you cannot sort an action column. If you edit the table in Automatic mode and save it, then you can view it in Automatic mode.
You can apply filtering to reduce the number of rows displayed in the table. You can filter by value from an enumeration, by text, or use comparison operators and intervals for columns with numbers and dates. Filtering is semantic, which means that it takes into account all cells whose expressions include the value of your filtering. For example, if you filter with a value of > 100, results would include a cell that displays an interval from 0 to 200.
In the decision table editor, you can use the Undo and Redo buttons to go quickly from a view of your filtered subset of data to your previous, unfiltered table, and vice versa.
Resizing automatically
You can set the display of a decision table to resize automatically when you change the size of your browser window. In Details, select Auto-resize columns.
Column menu
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| Define Column | Opens a rule editor to change the condition of the column. The rule editor includes a completion menu for building rule statements, and error checking that highlights errors in red and lists them at bottom of the editing area. |
| Format column | Opens an editor to set the formatting options for displaying values in a column (dates, numbers, and so on). You can select the format from the drop-down list options, and optionally edit the # symbols to personalize the format. |
| Check Gap | Looks for gaps between values in the cells of condition columns. |
| Check Overlap | Looks for overlapping values in the cells of condition columns. |
| Cut | Cuts a selected column. You can paste the column to another location. |
| Copy | Copies a selected column. You can paste the copy of the column to another location. |
| Paste | Pastes a copied or cut column to a selected location. |
| Insert Column | Inserts a condition or action column, depending on the current selection. |
| Delete | Removes the selected column and its part of the rule statement in the decision table. Deleting a column can disable a decision table. |
| Clear | Deletes the contents of the cells in the column. |