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Using Declarative Alternatives to Siebel Scripting

Often, customers use scripts for data validation, responses to data changes, or other purposes that may best be addressed through declarative means: by defining properties or specifying business service method invocation using Siebel Tools.

Scripting is often unnecessary and should be minimized or avoided because it may introduce performance problems, add risk and complexity, require greater maintenance, and duplicate functionality already available in Siebel applications.

For example, the Validation field property, which allows for common VB expressions and comparison operators, can be used to perform field validation or string manipulation of data entered through the user interface or through Siebel Object Interfaces.

Expressions for the Validation property can include methods such as LoginId(), LoginName(), LookupValue() ParentFieldValue(), PositionId(), PositionName(), Today(), and so on.

The Force Case field property may also be useful in a data-validation context, such as to ensure that personal names entered have initial capital letters.

For more information on supported expressions and operators, see Siebel Developer's Reference.

Setting the Auto Primary property on MVL object definitions can also help you achieve results that you might otherwise use scripting for. For example, if your business requirement is to assign the first record in an MVG as the primary record (for example, primary address or primary owner), then set Auto Primary to the value Default.

For more information about using Primary ID fields, see Using Primary ID Fields to Improve Performance and see Configuring Siebel eBusiness Applications.

Scripting can be used in combination with declarative methods, such as to present customized error messages that guide users to enter data appropriately for each field subject to validation rules.

Functionality such as custom responses to data changes, which may often be handled through scripting, may best be addressed through declarative means. Such mechanisms, many of which may be used in combination, include:

• User properties on applets, business components, fields, controls, list columns, and other object definitions (for example: Required, Pre-Default, Post Default, Search Spec, Type Field, or Type Value)
• Siebel Workflow
• State model
• Siebel Personalization
• Run-time events
• Named methods
• Business services
• Visibility configuration

For more scripting guidelines, see Configuring Siebel eBusiness Applications. For more information on many of the these topics, consult the Siebel Bookshelf.