Conditional Branch Steps

Conditional branch steps allow you to conditionally jump to a different step based on logical criteria. For example, you could jump to a different step in a script if the customer is residential as opposed to commercial. In addition, several fields are required for Conditional Branch steps:

Compare Field Type and Compare Field Name define the first operand in the comparison. The Field Type defines where the field is located. The Field Name defines the name of the field. The following points describe each field type:

  • Current To Do Information. Use this field type when the field being compared resides on the current To Do entry. Refer to How To Use To Do Fields for instructions on how to define the appropriate Field Name.
  • Data Area. Use this field type when the field being compared is one that you put into one of the scripts data areas in an earlier step. Field Name must reference both a data area structure name as well as the field, for example "parm/charType". Refer to How To Reference Fields In Data Areas for instructions on how to construct the appropriate Field Name.
  • Page Data Model. Use this field type when the field being compared resides on one of the tab pages in the object display area. Refer to How To Find The Name Of Page Data Model Fields for instructions on how to find the appropriate Field Name.
  • Predefined Value. Use this field type when the field being compared is a global variable.
  • Temporary Storage. Use this field type when the field being compared is one that you put into temporary storage in an earlier step. The Field Name must be the same as defined in an earlier step.
  • User Interface Field. Use this field type when the field being compared resides on the currently displayed tab page. Refer to How To Find The Name Of User Interface Fields for instructions on how to find the appropriate Field Name.

Condition defines the comparison criteria:

  • Use >, <, =, >=, <=, <> (not equal) to compare the field using standard logical operators. Enter the comparison value using the following fields.
  • Use In to compare the first field to a list of values. Each value is separated by a comma. For example, if a field value must equal 1, 3 or 9, you would enter a comparison value of 1,3,9.
  • Use Between to compare the field to a range of values. For example, if a field value must be between 1 and 9, you would enter a comparison value of 1,9. Note, the comparison is inclusive of the low and high values.

Comparison Field Type, Comparison Field Name and Comparison Value define what you're comparing the first operand to. The following points describe each field type:

  • Current To Do Information. Use this field type when the comparison value resides on the current To Do entry. Refer to How To Use To Do Fields for instructions on how to define the appropriate Field Name.
  • Data Area. Use this field type when the comparison value resides in one of the scripts data areas. Field Name must reference both a data area structure name as well as the field, for example "parm/charType". Refer to How To Reference Fields In Data Areas for instructions on how to construct the appropriate Field Name.
  • Page Data Model. Use this field type when the comparison value resides on one of the tab pages in the object display area. Refer to How To Find The Name Of Page Data Model Fields for instructions on how to find the appropriate Field Name.
  • Predefined Value. Use this field type when the field being compared is a constant value defined in the script. When this field type is used, use Comparison Value to define the constant value. Refer to How To Use Constants In Scripts for instructions on how to use constants.
  • Temporary Storage. Use this field type when the comparison value is a field that you put into temporary storage in an earlier step. The Field Name must be the same as defined in an earlier step.
  • User Interface Field. Use this field type when the comparison value resides on the currently displayed tab page. Refer to How To Find The Name Of User Interface Fields for instructions on how to find the appropriate Field Name.
Note: Conditional field types. The field types Current To Do Information, Page Data Model and User Interface Field are only applicable to BPA scripts. Only the field types Temporary Storage and Predefined Value are applicable when the Condition is In or Between.

The above fields allow you to perform a comparison that results in a value of TRUE or FALSE. The remaining fields control the step to which control is passed given the value:

  • If True, Go to defines the step that is executed if the comparison results in a TRUE value.
  • If False, Go to defines the step that is executed if the comparison results in a FALSE value.
Note: Numeric Comparison. Comparison of two values may be numeric or textual (left-to-right). Numeric comparison takes place only when values on both side of the comparison are recognized as numeric by the system. Otherwise, textual comparison is used. Fields for Current To Do Information, Data Area, Page Data Model, and User Interface Field types are explicitly associated with a data type and therefore can be recognized as numeric or not. This is not the case for fields residing in Temporary Storage or those set as Predefined Values. A Temporary Storage field is considered numeric if it either holds a numeric value moved to it from an explicitly defined numeric value (see above) or it is a resultant field of mathematical operation. A Predefined Value field is considered numeric if the other field it is compared to is numeric. For example, if a numeric field is compared to a Predefined Value the latter is considered numeric as well resulting in numeric value comparison. However, if the two fields are defined as Predefined Values the system assumes their values are text strings and therefore applies textual comparison.