Contents

• Title and Copyright Information
• Preface
• 1 Introduction
  • Terminology
  • Where You'll Use Groovy in Your Application
  • Ensuring Your Scripts Are Easy to Maintain
• 2 Groovy Basics
  • Commenting Your Scripts
  • Defining Variables
  • Referencing the Value of a Field in the Current Object
  • Working with Numbers, Dates, and Strings
  • Using Substitution Expressions in Strings
  • Using Conditional Expressions
  • Using the Switch Statement
  • Returning a Boolean Result
  • Assigning a Value to a Field in the Current Object
  • Writing Null-Aware Expressions
  • Understanding Null Versus the Empty String
  • Understanding Secondary Fields Related to a Reference
  • Using Groovy's Safe Navigation Operator
  • Assigning a Value to a Field in a Related Object
  • Printing and Viewing Diagnostic Messages
    • Writing Diagnostic Log Messages from Your Scripts
  • Working with Lists
  • Working with Maps
  • Working with Ranges
• 3 Examples of Each Context Where You Can Use Groovy
  • Providing an Expression to Calculate a Custom Formula Field's Value
    • Read-Only Calculated Fields
  • Providing an Expression to Calculate a Custom Field's Default Value
  • Defining a Field-Level Validation Rule
  • Defining an Object-Level Validation Rule
  • Defining Reusable Behavior with an Object Function
  • Enabling External Visibility of an Object Function
  • Defining an Object-Level Trigger to Complement Default Processing
  • Defining a Field-Level Trigger to React to Value Changes
  • Converting a Trigger to Custom Code
• 4 Groovy Tips and Techniques
  • Using the Related Object Accessor Field to Work with a Parent Object
  • Using the Related Object Accessor Field to Work with a Referenced Object
  • Using the Related Collection Accessor Field to Work with Child Rows
  • Accessing Current Date and Time from the Application Server
  • Accessing Current Date and Time from the Database
  • Understanding Additional Built-in Groovy Functions
  • Testing Whether a Field's Value Is Changed
  • Avoiding Validation Threshold Errors By Conditionally Assigning Values
  • Understanding "Before Commit" Performance Impact
  • Detecting Row State in After Changes Posted to Database Trigger
  • Avoiding Posting Threshold Errors By Conditionally Assigning Values
  • Functional Restrictions in Trigger Scripts
  • Passing the Current Object to a Helper Function
  • Referencing Original Values of Changed Fields
  • Raising a Warning From a Validation Rule Instead of an Error
  • Throwing a Custom Validation Exception
  • Returning Locale-Sensitive Custom Strings
  • Raising a Trigger's Optional Declaratively-Configured Error Message
  • Accessing the View Object for Programmatic Access to Business Objects
  • Defining the Sort Order for Query Results
  • Finding an Object by Id
  • Finding Objects Using a View Criteria
    • Using a Simple View Criteria
    • Syntax of View Criteria Filter Expressions
    • Tips for Formatting Longer Criteria Across Multiple Lines
    • Using String Substitution for Literal Values into a View Criteria Expression Used Only Once
    • Using Custom Bind Variables for View Criteria Used Multiple Times
    • Using View Criteria to Query Case-Insensitively
    • Limitations of View Criteria Filter Expressions
    • Finding Rows in a Child Rowset Using findRowsMatchingCriteria
  • Accomplishing More with Less Code
    • Embracing Null-Handling in Conditions
    • Embracing Null-Handling in Loops
    • Understanding Groovy's Null-Safe Comparison Operators
    • Using Functions as Objects with Closures
    • Working More Cleverly with Collections
      • Finding Items in a Collection
      • Generating One Collection from Another
      • Sorting Items in a Collections
      • Grouping Items in a Collection
      • Computing Aggregates Over a Collection
        • Computing the Count of Items in a Collection
        • Computing the Minimum of Items in a Collection
        • Computing the Maximum of Items in a Collection
        • Computing the Sum of Items in a Collection
      • Joining Items in a Collection
    • Using Optional Method Arguments
  • Creating a New Object
  • Updating an Existing Object
  • Permanently Removing an Existing Object
  • Reverting Changes in a Single Row
  • Understanding Why Using Commit or Rollback In Scripts Is Strongly Discouraged
  • Using the User Data Map
  • Referencing Information About the Current User
  • Using Aggregate Functions
    • Understanding the Supported Aggregate Functions
    • Understanding Why Aggegrate Functions Are Appropriate Only to Small Numbers of Child Rows
    • Understanding How Null Values Behave in Aggregate Calculation
    • Performing Conditional Counting
  • Understanding the Difference Between Default Expression and Create Trigger
  • Deriving Values of a Field When Other Fields Change Value
    • Deriving the Value of a Formula Field When Other Fields Change Value
    • Deriving the Value of Non-Formula Field When Other Fields Change Value
      • Deriving a Non-Formula Field Using a Before Trigger
      • Deriving a Non-Formula Field Using an After Field Changed Trigger
  • Setting Invalid Fields for the UI in an Object-Level Validation Rule
  • Determining the State of a Row
  • Understanding How Local Variables Hide Object Fields
  • Invoking REST Services from Your Scripts
    • Creating a Service Connection
    • Acquiring a New Service Object
    • Setting Path Parameters If Needed
    • Setting Query Parameters If Needed
    • Setting HTTP Headers If Needed
    • Using Groovy Maps and Lists with REST Services
    • Checking Success Status and Handling Exceptions
    • Calling Service Endpoint Methods
    • Browsing Available Service Endpoint Methods
  • Formatting Numbers and Dates Using a Formatter
    • Example of Formatting a Number Using a Formatter
    • Formatting a Date Using a Formatter
  • Working with Field Values Using a Parameterized Name
• 5 Best Practices for Groovy Performance
  • Search Using at Least One Indexed Field
  • Explicitly Select Only the Attributes You Need
  • Test for Existence by Selecting a Single Row
  • Avoid Using newView() Inside a Loop
  • Set Field Values in Bulk
  • Avoid Revalidating Known Valid Data
  • Use Left Shift Operator To Append to Lists
• 6 Understanding Common JBO Exceptions in Groovy Scripts
  • JBO-25030: Detail entity X with row key Y cannot find or invalidate its owning entity
  • JBO-26020: Attempting to insert row with no matching EO base
• 7 Supported Classes and Methods for Use in Groovy
  • Supported Classes and Methods for Use in Groovy Scripts