Rules

Rules are statements configured to automatically execute a procedure triggered by a certain condition. Basically, rules consist of two parts: criteria and actions. Criteria are conditions that must be met in order to trigger an action (e.g., a criterion can be that the numeric value of a field is within a specified range). Actions are operations to be performed on a target element (e.g., changing the value stored in a field). In other words, it’s an "If-Then" (if this happens, then do that) statement.

There are three different types of rules:

  1. Rules. Configured in the Rules manager. If their criteria are fulfilled, affect the data of the record(s) currently displayed, after saving the form (or affecting many records via imports). For example, a rule that sets today’s date value to a field, after ticking a checkbox and saving the form. See other examples here.

  2. Validations. Configured in the Rule editor, if their criteria are fulfilled, affect the behavior of the fields currently displayed, without having to save the form for the actions to take place. For instance, make a field mandatory based on another field. Read other examples here.

  3. Styles. Also configured in the Rule editor, if their criteria are fulfilled, affect the color of the fields currently displayed, without having to save the form for the actions to take place. For instance, set a color to a field box after typing a specific value. Take a look at other examples here.

Timeout on rule chain: In order to ensure a good performance of the application, there is a time limit for create and update transactions that are started from forms, up to 15 minutes, to be completed. If that time is exceeded without full action completion, the rule is interrupted, and the transaction is rollbacked. The user will get a notification if this occurs.