Tutorial Using Formulas in Rules

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You can add formulas in rules. To get PriceRules to calculate the actual price, add this rule to the rule set:

Price = Quantity * UnitPrice

You can also add a number of other quantities to be priced. The spreadsheet now looks like:

Change the quantities to see different prices, or change the discount quantity to recalculate at the new breakpoint.

Asking the User

A rule set can have an interactive dialog with the user, asking for values when needed. To set up a property to query the user, make a rule like this:

quantity = ASK( "What is the quantity ordered? " )

When the rule set needs a value for quantity it will put up a dialog box asking the user for the value.

This technique is useful for rule sets that only use a portion of the input facts on any one case. The rule set will only ask for the value when the fact is being considered in a rule condition. So facts that aren't actually needed for a particular case are not asked.

Document Assembly

Text formulas can be used in rules as well, allowing for document assembly. The spreadsheet below illustrates the basic idea.

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