Apparatuses, systems, and methods for providing a rules engine system
View Patent ↗Apparatuses, systems, methods, and computer program products are provided for that have a cross-module scope for facilitating the use and management of rules on an application level. The rules engine system is configured to accept inputs from multiple modules of an application, retrieve data from multiple modules, and cause actions to be carried out by multiple modules. A rules engine provider component of the system is isolated from a rules manager component of the system by a rules wrapper component, such that the rules manager component is unaffected by changes that are made to the rules engine provider component.
1. An apparatus for supporting a rules engine system, the apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to at least:
provide for communication, via a rules wrapper component, between a rules engine provider component comprising a plurality of rules and a rules manager component configured to edit at least one of the plurality of rules, the rules wrapper component comprising a first portion configured to communicate with the rules manager component and a second portion configured to communicate with the rules engine provider component;
wherein the rules wrapper component is configured to communicate with the rules manager component via the first portion to perform at least one of a rule execution function, a rule searching function, a rule creation function, a rule management function, a rule deployment function, or a rule tracking function, such that the rules wrapper component functionally isolates the rules manager component from the rules engine provider component;
wherein the rule tracking function includes at least one of accessing rule names, trigger point names, rule performance data, an action to be taken when a rule condition is satisfied, and user inputs;
wherein the rule tracking function evaluates the rule condition and obtains information regarding what facts caused the rule condition to be evaluated as true and is accomplished via communication with the rules engine provider component;
wherein a functionality of the rules manager component is unaffected by changes to the rules engine provider component; and
wherein the rules wrapper component remains the same for different rules of the rules engine provider component.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to provide for communication between the rules engine system and an application server via a rules service component.
3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the rules service component is unaffected by changes to the rules engine provider component.
4. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the rules wrapper component is configured to de-couple a framework of the application server from the rules engine provider component of the rules engine system.
5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each component comprises a layer of functionality and the rules engine provider component comprises an innermost layer of functionality.
6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the rules wrapper component is configured to communicate with a fact retriever of the rules manager component to access domain objects that have been retrieved by the fact retriever.
7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the rules wrapper component is further configured to isolate a rules service component from the rules engine provider component such that the rules service component is unaffected by changes to the rules engine provider component, wherein the rules service component is configured to define a user interface and to communicate with the rules manager component.
8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein functionality of the first portion is unaffected by changes to the second portion.
9. A method for interacting with a rules engine provider component comprising:
accessing a plurality of rules provided by a rules engine provider component; managing editing of at least one of the plurality of rules via a rules manager component; and
functionally isolating the rules manager component from the rules engine provider component via a rules wrapper component configured to communicate with the rules manager component and the rules engine provider component, wherein the rules wrapper component comprises a first portion configured to communicate with the rules manager component and a second portion configured to communicate with the rules engine provider component, wherein the rules wrapper component is configured to communicate with the rules manager component via the first portion to perform at least one of a rule execution function, a rule searching function, a rule creation function, a rule management function, a rule deployment function, or a rule tracking function, such that the rules manager component is unaffected by changes to the rules engine provider component,
wherein the rule tracking function includes at least one of accessing rule names, trigger point names, rule performance data, an action to be taken when a rule condition is satisfied, or user inputs,
wherein the rule tracking function evaluates the rule condition and obtains information regarding what facts caused the rule condition to be evaluated as true and is accomplished via communication with the rules engine provider component,
wherein the rules wrapper component remains the same for different rules of the rules engine provider component.
10. The method of claim 9 further comprising providing for interaction with an application server via a rules service component, wherein the rules wrapper component is configured to isolate the rules service component from the rules engine provider component such that the rules service component is unaffected by changes to the rules engine provider component.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the rules wrapper component is configured to de-couple a framework of the application server from the rules engine provider component of the rules engine system.
12. The method of claim 9 comprising configuring each component as a layer of functionality, wherein the rules engine provider component comprises an innermost layer of functionality.
13. The method of claim 9 , wherein the rules wrapper component is configured to communicate with a fact retriever of the rules manager component to access domain objects that have been retrieved by the fact retriever.
14. A computer program product comprising at least one nontransitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable program code portions stored therein, the computer-executable program code portions comprising program code instructions for:
accessing a plurality of rules provided by a rules engine provider component;
managing editing of at least one of the plurality of rules via a rules manager component; and
functionally isolating the rules manager component from the rules engine provider component via a rules wrapper component configured to communicate with the rules manager component and the rules engine provider component, wherein the rules wrapper component comprises a first portion configured to communicate with the rules manager component and a second portion configured to communicate with the rules engine provider component, wherein the rules wrapper component is configured to communicate with the rules manager component via the first portion to perform at least one of a rule execution function, a rule searching function, a rule creation function, a rule management function, a rule deployment function, or a rule tracking function, such that the rules manager component is unaffected by changes to the rules engine provider component,
wherein the rule tracking function includes at least one of accessing rule names, trigger point names, rule performance data, an action to be taken when a rule condition is satisfied, or user inputs,
wherein the rule tracking function evaluates the rule condition and obtains information regarding what facts caused the rule condition to be evaluated as true and is accomplished via communication with the rules engine provider component,
wherein the rules wrapper component remains the same for different rules of the rules engine provider component.
15. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein the program code portions further comprise program code instructions configured for providing for interaction with an application server via a rules service component.
16. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the rules wrapper component is configured to isolate the rules service component from the rules engine provider component such that the rules service component is unaffected by changes to the rules engine provider component.
17. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the rules wrapper component is configured to de-couple a framework of the application server from the rules engine provider component of the rules engine system.
18. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein the program code portions further comprise program code instructions configured for configuring each component as a layer of functionality, wherein the rules engine provider component comprises an innermost layer of functionality.
19. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein the rules wrapper component is configured to communicate with a fact retriever of the rules manager component to access domain objects that have been retrieved by the fact retriever.