Order of rule evaluation

technopak

Hi,

I have a rule in an object which creates a related object if the original BO is new. This works fine.

Then I have a situation where if the original object was changed that the related object should be deleted and a new instance of the related object should be created based on the changed values in the main object.

When I try to achieve this, the DELETE rule deletes not only the original related object, but the newly created related object also.

I'd be glad of some suggestion about the logic behind why this is happening or how my requirement might be better achieved. Could assigning priority to one rule over the other control my rule evaluation ?

Peter

pbrad

Hi,

Without seeing your rules it is tough to help you. I would think that it would make more sense to apply the changes to the related object rather than delete it and rebuild it though.

Cheers,
Pete

technopak

Thanks for the post Pete,

Essentially, my rules are fairly simple -

IF Object1 IS NEW THEN
Create Object2 WITH Attributes from Object1

IF Object1 WAS CHANGED THEN
FIND Object2 WHERE Object2.Object1Reference=Object1
DELETE Object2

IF Object1 WAS CHANGED THEN
Create Object2 WITH Attributes from Object1

The Objects are a bit more complex than above and there are multiple fields which can be changed, as well as multiple Object2 instances created by a new or changed Object1. To code the updates caused by the changes would be very long-winded (not to mention difficult to get right), so I've decided that the cleanest is just to dump the earlier-created Object2s and replace them with new ones. I agree, this may not sound like the best thing to do, but trust me, it's easier than updating a pile of related Object2s 🙂

The question really is how to get the three rules above to fire in the above order. The rule processing engine appears to carry out the two create rules first and then the delete rule - leaving me with no instances of Object2 at all !

I have a workaround sorted which involves assigning a number flag to the instances of Object2 to indicate which are the latest creations and then not delete those instances, but I'm still very curious about the rule evaluation.

Peter

pbrad

Hi,

It sounds to me like you would be better to break out to a couple of processes rather than trying to do it all as rules:

Rule1: IF Object1 IS NEW THEN
Create Object2 WITH Attributes from Object1

Rule2: IF Object1 WAS CHANGED THEN
Process1

Process1(with Object 1 in context as an input parameter):
Process2
Create Object2 WITH Attributes from Object1

Process2(with Object 1 in context as an input parameter):
FIND Object2 WHERE Object2.Object1Reference=Object1
DELETE Object2

With this approach, Object 1 is always maintained in context and Process 1 will run Process2 and delete Object 2 before it tries to create Object 2 again.

Hope that works/helps.

Cheers,
Pete

tford

Hi Peter,

I think the issue might be that NEW BO instances also trigger a CHANGED situation.

Try changing a rule that you ONLY want to fire if the BO instance is NEW to a format like:

If NewCheck WAS CHANGED AND NOT(NewCheck IS NEW ) Then
NewCheck.Test2='Changed'

technopak

Thanks Pete and Tom,

I'll try both suggestions and report back on progress.

Peter