VOID expressions return no value but are used to perform other work. The VOID PERL expression uses Perl to manipulate the data.

The Perl code is contained in an EXPRBODY element. The Zinc Perl module provides classes and methods for gaining access to and manipulating the current record.

Objects accessed from Perl are copies of the current data; changing the Perl objects has no effect on the current data until a function is called to explicitly copy the Perl objects back.

Oracle recommends that you perform record manipulation with the PERL_MANIPULATOR element rather than with the EXPRESSION and RECORD_MANIPULATOR elements. However, if you need to access and modify dimension sources (such as a dimension adapter or dimension server) you should still use expressions such as DVAL PERL. The Perl manipulator does not access dimension sources.

See the EXPRESSION element for DTD and attribute information.

<EXPRESSION TYPE=”PROPERTY”  NAME=”PERL”>
   <EXPRBODY>
   <![CDATA[
   ### IF ITEM HAS "LPRINT" PROPERTY WITH VALUE OF "Y",
   ### REMOVE CURRENT "FORMAT" PROPERTY,
   ### AND CREATE NEW ONE WITH VALUE OF "LP"

   my @lprint = get_props_by_name("LPRINT");

   my @format = get_props_by_name("FORMAT");

   if (-1 != $#lprint) {
      my $large = ($lprint[0])->value();
      if ($large =~ /Y/) {
         if (-1 != $#format) {
            remove_props("FORMAT");
         }

      my $new_prop = new Zinc::PropVal("FORMAT", "LP");

      add_props($new_prop);
      }
   }

   ]]>
   </EXPRBODY>
</EXPRESSION>