incDec Business Rule Component

An Increment/Decrement business rule component returns the value of a counter that is increased or decreased for each printed label in a print job. This value is added to the data map and can be referenced by using the fully-qualified name of the Increment/Decrement business rule component.

The starting value for each print job is entered by the user at print time or is configured as part of the business rule component. The capabilities of an Increment/Decrement business rule component are comparable to those of an Inc/Dec data source.

Tip: When incrementing an alphanumeric series, by default the series begins with zero, progresses through the numerical digits, and then progresses through letters.

The following is the syntax for an Increment/Decrement business rule component.

Important! Content in a business rule is case sensitive. This includes business rule component names, attributes, and values.

Note: For each business rule component, most elements and attributes are optional, but you should specify enough to achieve the functionality that you intend. In most cases, you can omit attributes that are not relevant to your task and default values will be used. You must specify a name and a namespace. Except where otherwise indicated, attributes accept string values.

About the syntax documentation

<incDec name="This_component" namespace="Parent_of_component"
direction="INCREMENT|DECREMENT"
mode="NUMERIC|UPPERCASE_ALPHA|UPPERCASE_ALPHANUM|HEXADECIMAL|CUSTOM"
step="integer"
maxLength="integer"
minLength="integer"

dataType="STRING|INTEGER|NUMBER"
mergePolicy="MERGE_ALL|MERGE_NONE|MERGE_FROM_CHILD|MERGE_TO_PARENT"
action="OVERRIDE|NOT_EXISTS|DELETE|APPEND|PREPEND"

sticky="true|false" configuratorType="Block_type_ID" alias="Data_reference">

<!-- Triggers -->

<!-- Required. Specify which event will cause this business rule component to run. For more information, see Triggers. -->

<triggers>

<trigger eventTrigger="ENQUEUE|PRINTJOBDETAIL|LABEL|Custom_Event" priority="integer" propagation="NONE|BEFORE|AFTER"/>

</triggers>

 

<!-- Execution condition -->

<!-- You can specify a condition that must be true for this business rule component to run. For more information, see Conditions. -->

<executionCondition>

<!-- Logical expression resulting in a condition of true or false. You can perform a logical operation, a comparison, or a data map entry state operation. You can nest operations to create a more complex expression. For more information, see Logical Operations and Comparisons. -->

</executionCondition>

 

<!-- Default data -->

<!-- You can specify default data to be added to the data map. For more information, see Default Data. -->

<defaultData>

<!-- Default data entries are stored as data map entries that include a name (key) and a value. When defining an entry, name and value are required. -->

<entry name="Name_of_data_map_entry"
dataType="STRING|INTEGER|BOOLEAN|NUMBER|BINARY|DATE"
mergePolicy="MERGE_ALL|MERGE_NONE|MERGE_FROM_CHILD|MERGE_TO_PARENT"
action="OVERRIDE|NOT_EXISTS|DELETE|APPEND|PREPEND">

<value>Value_of_data_map_entry</value>

</entry>

</defaultData>

 

<!-- Parameters -->

<!-- You can create parameters, which are evaluated when the business rule is run. For more information, see Parameters. -->

<parameters>

<!-- Parameters are stored as data map entries that include a name (key) and a value. When defining a parameter, parameterKey is required. -->

<!-- To cause any data map entries within the parameter value to be resolved to their associated values at run time, set resolveValue to true. -->

<parameter parameterKey="Name_of_parameter"
dataType="STRING|INTEGER|BOOLEAN|NUMBER|BINARY|DATE" resolveValue="true|false">

<parameterValue>Initial_value_of_parameter</parameterValue>

</parameter>

</parameters>

 

<!-- Common custom events -->

<!-- You can define pre-processing events, post-processing events, and error processing events that you can use as triggers. By using these events as triggers for other business rule components, you can cause a state to occur before or after this business rule component is run, or you can respond to an error. For more information, see Events. -->

<preProcessingEvents>

<preProcessEvent eventName="Custom_Event" includeSiblings="true|false" />

</preProcessingEvents>

 

<postProcessingEvents>

<postProcessEvent eventName="Custom_Event" includeSiblings="true|false" />

</postProcessingEvents>

 

<errorProcessingEvents>

<errorProcessEvent eventName="Custom_Event" includeSiblings="true|false" />

</errorProcessingEvents>

 

<!-- Child business rule components -->

<!-- You can create child business rule components to be run whenever the trigger event for this business rule component occurs. -->

<children>

<!-- The child business rule components have the potential to run once per triggering of the business rule component. However, a child business rule component will not run unless its own trigger event occurs. -->

<!-- Any business rule components to be run if the trigger event for this incDec business rule component occurs. -->

</children>

 

<!-- Increment/Decrement functionality -->

<!-- If the mode is CUSTOM, specify the custom sequence in increasing value from left to right. Do not use any separators between the items in the sequence. To use an item that includes multiple characters, enclose the item in single quotation marks. -->

<!-- If the mode for this business rule component is anything other than CUSTOM, omit the sequence. -->

<sequence>string</sequence>

 

<!-- The startValue must be of the type specified by the mode. -->

<startValue>value</startValue>

 

<!-- The minValue must be of the type specified by the mode. To optimize performance, ensure that minValue and endValue include the same number of digits. You can pad minValue with leading zeros as needed. -->

<minValue>value</minValue>

 

<!-- The endValue must be of the type specified by the mode. -->

<endValue>value</endValue>

</incDec>

Syntax Tips

Additional information is available about the following items.

action

alias

configuratorType

dataType or valueType

mergePolicy

name

namespace

sticky

Tip: For assistance with a business rule that you have created or to have Loftware create business rules for you, contact Loftware's Professional Services Group.