Define Rule Actions

In the Classes in the Business Domain model, the attributes and operations that you set up to define the conditions through which a rule takes effect might in their turn call a decision attribute or an operation, which you can assign as an action in the Rule Actions (Outcome) table. You create the attributes and operations as you set up the Class, with at least some values or parameters, and you tailor some of these features to define the actions that determine the effect of the rule.

Access

Context Menu

Open diagram | Right-click Rule Task element | Rule Composer > Decision Table

Model Rule Actions

Step	Action	See also
1	From the appropriate business term Class element in the Project Browser, drag and drop the decision attribute (such as Eligible - Yes/No) or operation (such as post error) onto the first empty field in the 'Rule Actions (Outcome)' column. The 'Rule Actions' fields apply Intelli-sense to display possible entries for the field; press Ctrl+Spacebar in the field to display a list of possible Classes, double-click on the selected Class, type . (a period) and double-click on the attribute or operation in the automatically-displayed list
2	For an attribute, if the dropped action variable is of type 'enum', the 'Allowable Values/Parameters' fields are automatically set with the enum literals. Otherwise, double-click on the 'Allowable Values/Parameters' field (or right-click and select the 'Edit Allowable Values' option); the 'Edit Allowable Values' dialog displays. Click on the New button, type a possible value in the text box (such as 'Yes' or 'Accept'), click on the Save button, and repeat the process for the next possible value (such as 'No' or 'Reject').
3	When you have entered all possible values, close the dialog and select the appropriate response in the 'Result<n>' column field underneath the appropriate 'Value<n>' field for the calling condition.
4	For an operation, a checkbox displays in each of the 'Result<n>' column fields; to call the operation as the response to a value of the corresponding condition, select the checkbox in the 'Result<n>' field underneath that condition 'Value <n>' field.
5	To pass parameters to the operation, double-click on the 'Allowable Values/Parameters' field (or right-click and select the 'Edit Parameters' menu option); the 'Edit Parameters' dialog displays. Select the parameters and type the values into the 'Value' text box; click on the Save button and close the dialog. You can add an operation as a Rule Action more than once, so you can call the operation with different sets of parameters.
6	Click on the Save button in the Rule Composer toolbar to save the values.
7	To add another Rule Action, right-click on the 'No' column and select the 'Add Row' option; an empty row is added to the table. To remove a Rule Action from the table, right-click on the appropriate 'No' field and select the 'Delete Row' option; this does not affect the original attribute or operation in the model.

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