Troubleshooting D2W Rules David LeBerAlign Software Inc.

Why, why, Oh why?

“With great power comes great opacity.”

Knowledge is light...

• Understand the rules

• Understand their sources

• Understand the tools

Getting to know the Rules

The Rule Files

• user.d2wmodel and d2w.d2wmodel

• In your Application

• In its Frameworks

• Identifying all of the rules at play is critical

Example: ERModernMoviesDemo

• ERModernMoviesDemo - user.d2wmodel/d2w.d2wmodel

• ERModernLook - d2w.d2wmodel

• ERModernDefaultSkin - d2w.d2wmodel

• ERModernDirectToWeb - d2w.d2wmodel

• ERDirectToWeb - d2w.d2wmodel

• JavaDirectToWeb - d2w.d2wmodel

ALL of those rules affect your apps behaviour.

RuleModeler to the rescue

Demo

Left Hand Side (LHS) Right Hand Side (RHS)

Anatomy of a Rule

100 : entity.name = ‘MovieRole’ => displayNameForEntity = “Movie Role” [Assignment]

Your Job ( )

• Determine what LHS condition will identify the point in your app that you want the behaviour to change.

• Identify what RHS key controls that behaviour

• Identify what value the RHS key needs to be need to be set to.

should you accept it... this hard drive will self destruct in...

Why a priority of a million may not be a good idea

• Establish priority guidelines

• Stray from those guidelines at your peril

• Arbitrarily high priorities, probably mean you are doing it wrong

Common Rule Problems

• Typos

• Conflicting LHS qualifier with rules higher up the hierarchy

• Incorrect or non-existent keys

Rule Keys and Values

• Components

• The d2wContext

• Assignment objects

• Other rules

Components

/*** From ERMODListPage.java** @d2wKey printerButtonComponentName* @d2wKey emptyListComponentName* @d2wKey headerComponentName* @d2wKey entity* @d2wKey allowsFiltering* @d2wKey repetitionComponentName* @d2wKey batchNavigationBarComponentName* @d2wKey displayNameForEntity* @d2wKey pageWrapperName* @d2wKey returnButtonLabel*/

Components

100 : entity.name = ‘MovieRole’ => displayNameForEntity = “Movie Role” [Assignment]

d2wContext

• task

• entity

• propertyKey

• attribute

• relationship

Assignment Objects

100 : entity.name = ‘MovieRole’ => displayNameForEntity = “Movie Role” [Assignment]

100 : entity.name = ‘MovieRole’ => isEntityEditable = “true” [BooleanAssignment]

100 : pageConfiguration like ‘*Article*’ => entity = “Article” [EntityAssignment]

Assignment Objects

0 : *true* => actions = “defaultActions” [ERDKeyValueAssignment]

0 : task = ‘list’ => defaultActions = “<ERDDefaultActionAssignment>” [ERDDefaultActionAssignemnt]

// From ERDDefaultActionAssignmentpublic NSDictionary defaultActions(D2WContext c) { NSDictionary actions = new NSDictionary(new Object[] { defaultLeftActions(c), defaultRightActions(c) }, new Object [] {"left", "right"} ); log.debug(actions); return actions;}

Other Rules

50 : pageConfiguration like EditList* => subTask = “list” [Assignment]

1 : subTask = 'list' => repetitionComponentName = “ERDListPageRepetition” [Assignemnt]

Did you turn it off and back on again?

Did you turn it off and back on again?

Did you turn it off and back on again?

Did you turn it off and back on again?

Demo

Page Configurations

• A shortcut to identify a task and entity combination

• Naming convetion: TaskModifierEntity

• Are easier to read and remember

• Are more flexible

• Can reduce the number of rules required

Wildcard Gotchas

50 : pageConfiguration like ‘*Movie*’ => someKey = “someValue” [Assignment]

50 : pageConfiguration like ‘Inspect*Movie*’ => someKey = “someDifferentValue” [Assignment]

60 : pageConfiguration like ‘Inspect*Movie*’ => someKey = “someDifferentValue” [Assignment]

Demo

Use the tools Luke

Demo

Q&A