Creating Derived Properties with Formulas

  To create a formula property:

  1. On the Home page, select Administer.

  2. From New, select Property Definition.

  3. Enter a name for the property.

    Note:

    The property is assigned to the Custom namespace. The Fully Qualified Name and Label fields are filled in automatically after entering the name. The Fully Qualified Name for the property must be unique. The property label is a user-friendly descriptor that is displayed for property definitions for all features aside of application administration. Multiple properties can have the same Label for convenience purposes. The property Description is an optional, long descriptor that is displayed at the bottom of the Property Editor. Multiple properties can have the same Label as long as they are not in the same namespace.

  4. Select Derived as the Property Type and Formula as the Deriver Class.

  5. Click Save button.

  6. Select the Parameters tab to define additional parameters for the formula.

  7. You can enter a text formula or insert functions and properties in the following ways:

    • To insert a function, place your cursor in the formula and click Insert Function. A list of functions is displayed. Expand a function to view its input parameters. Enter the parameter values and click OK.

    • To insert a property, place your cursor in the formula and click Insert Property. A list of properties is displayed. Select a property and click OK.

    • Remove Spaces – Selected by default. If selected, all spaces in the formula are removed when the formula is evaluated and when the property is saved.

    • To evaluate the formula, select an option:

      • Evaluate with Selected Node – Click Ellipsis button and select a node. The node's current property values are used in the formula. Click Evaluate. The result is displayed at the bottom of the formula designer.

      • Evaluate with Scratch Pad – Enter property values manually. Values can also be copied from a node and then modified for the evaluation. In the Copy From Node, click Ellipsis button and select a node to display its property values in the grid. Use the filter row below the column headings to filter the list of properties. Use the Edit buttons in the Action column to modify property values for evaluation with the formula. Click Evaluate. The Evaluation Result is displayed at the bottom of the formula designer.

  8. To test the formula, click Evaluate.