Visual information builder for business rules
A method, apparatus, and system for a visual information builder for business rules are provided. By providing an additional interface layer over a general purpose business rule creation interface, role-based and context-sensitive interaction and presentation can be provided to abstract the complexity of the underlying service platform that supports the business rules. Templates are used to provide custom context-sensitive user interfaces and to hide complexity from the user by limiting the scope of the rule dictionary exposed to the user. The general rule building process is uniformly consistent across different contexts and operates similarly at the block and rule scale. Moreover, logical combinations are built using a consistent logical layout specifying logical operators and order of operations based on direction of expansion and relative positions. The logical combinations that are built in VIB can be automatically translated into corresponding business rule code for evaluation and execution by a rules engine.
1. A method comprising:
receiving a request to launch a visual information builder for a specific task of an application that uses a rule engine;
accessing a stored rule model of two or more different candidate rule models, wherein the rule model comprises a plurality of objects including nodes and attributes wherein the nodes correspond to conditions and actions and wherein the attributes comprise parameters for defining the conditions and actions;
wherein the plurality of objects are retrieved from a rule dictionary of the rule engine based on the specific task;
wherein a particular node of the plurality of objects is associated with a template defining one or more options, for the particular node, that are based on the specific task;
presenting a user interface of the visual information builder that is configured to receive user input specifying a selection of one or more objects from the rule model and specifying a logical combination of the one or more objects that were selected from the rule model, wherein the particular node is editable in the user interface according to the template;
receiving user input specifying one or more selected objects and a particular logical combination of the one or more selected objects;
converting the particular logical combination of the one or more selected objects into one or more rules evaluable by the rule engine; and
storing the one or more rules in the rule dictionary;
wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the request is received from a user interface for the application.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the attributes retrieved from the rule dictionary are based on the particular node.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the template is custom for the particular object.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the template is a rules template that further filters the plurality of objects in the rule model according to the particular object.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the template is a rules template that automatically connects a pre-populated node to the particular object in the logical combination.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the converting of the logical combination creates each of the one or more rules by traversing one or more conditions to reach an action in the logical combination.
8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing one or more sequences of instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause performing of:
receiving a request to launch a visual information builder for a specific task of an application that uses a rule engine;
accessing a stored rule model of two or more different candidate rule models, wherein the rule model comprises a plurality of objects including nodes and attributes wherein the nodes correspond to conditions and actions and wherein the attributes comprise parameters for defining the conditions and actions;
wherein the plurality of objects are retrieved from a rule dictionary of the rule engine based on the specific task;
wherein a particular node of the plurality of objects is associated with a template defining one or more options, for the particular node, that are based on the specific task;
presenting a user interface of the visual information builder that is configured to receive user input specifying a selection of one or more objects from the rule model and specifying a logical combination of the one or more objects that were selected from the rule model, wherein the particular node is editable in the user interface according to the template;
receiving user input specifying one or more selected objects and a particular logical combination of the one or more selected objects;
converting the particular logical combination of the one or more selected objects into one or more rules evaluable by the rule engine; and
storing the one or more rules in the rule dictionary.
9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the request is received from a user interface for the application.
10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the attributes retrieved from the rule dictionary are based on the particular node.
11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the template is custom for the particular object.
12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the template is a rules template that further filters the plurality of objects in the rule model according to the particular object.
13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the template is a rules template that automatically connects a pre-populated node to the particular object in the logical combination.
14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the converting of the logical combination creates each of the one or more rules by traversing one or more conditions to reach an action in the logical combination.
15. A system comprising one or more computing devices configured to:
receive a request to launch a visual information builder for a specific task of an application that uses a rule engine;
access a stored rule model of two or more different candidate rule models, wherein the rule model comprises a plurality of objects including nodes and attributes wherein the nodes correspond to conditions and actions and wherein the attributes comprise parameters for defining the conditions and actions;
wherein the plurality of objects are retrieved from a rule dictionary of the rule engine based on the specific task;
wherein a particular node of the plurality of objects is associated with a template defining one or more options, for the particular node, that are based on the specific task;
present a user interface of the visual information builder that is configured to receive user input specifying a selection of one or more objects from the rule model and specifying a logical combination of the one or more objects that were selected from the rule model, wherein the particular node is editable in the user interface according to the template;
receive user input specifying one or more selected objects and a particular logical combination of the one or more selected objects;
convert the particular logical combination of the one or more selected objects into one or more rules evaluable by the rule engine; and
storing the one or more rules in the rule dictionary.
16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the attributes retrieved from the rule dictionary are based on the particular node.
17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the template is custom for the particular object.
18. The system of claim 15 , wherein the template is a rules template that further filters the plurality of objects in the rule model according to the particular object.
19. The system of claim 15 , wherein the template is a rules template that automatically connects a pre-populated node to the particular object in the logical combination.
20. The system of claim 15 , wherein the converting of the logical combination creates each of the one or more rules by traversing one or more conditions to reach an action in the logical combination.