Global Rules

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The Global Rules dialog window allows you to define unlimited sets of Business Rules. Examples might be Global Rules, Customer Rules, Product Rules, Invoice Rules, etc.


Use the appropriate update buttons to add a new set of rules, modify an existing set, or delete an existing set. The following prompts are provided in the update dialog window:



Enter a meaningful name to define your rules set. Example: GlobalRules, CustomerRules, etc. Note: No spaces are allowed in this name set.



Enter a textual description that describes the rules set. Example: Customer Information Rules


In the Global Rules update dialog, you are provided with a list of the specific rules that are contained in the defined set. Use the update buttons to add, modify, or delete these specific rules. The following prompts are provided:


Rule Name

Enter a specific rule name here. The rule name must be in a variable format (e.g.  no spaces, colons and underscore characters permitted, etc.)


Rule Description

Enter a meaningful description of the specific rule that you have defined. Example: "This rule checks if the customer is domestic (CUS:Country = USA)"


Rule Definition  Evaluation Expression

Enter a valid expression that is used as your rules criteria. Example: CUS:Country <> USA, or CUS:AccountNumber <> 0.

The specific rule that you define will always return a zero if the expression you enter evaluates to "False".

Press the "E" button to call the Expression Editor. This dialog is used to help you construct syntactically correct expressions to use in the prompt.


Field to link to

Press the ellipsis button to select a valid field name to link the specific rule to, which will be evaluated whenever this field is populated, or added to the Rules Hot Field list (found in the procedure based Local Rules template).


Display an error indicator when a rule is broken

Check this box to display an error indicator (message) when the specific rule is broken (fails).


Controls Button

Press the Controls button to open a dialog window used to identify a set of generic controls (identified by Field Equate Labels) which will be enabled or unhidden when the rule is evaluated to "True", or disabled or hidden when the rule is evaluated to "False".