Business rules user interface for development of adaptable enterprise applications
Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for interacting with a user to define business rules in a declarative manner. The invention operates to display a set of business rules as editable conditions and editable actions, the conditions and the actions being linked to each other by a combination of editable if-values and editable then-values.
1 . A computer program product, tangibly stored on a computer-readable medium, comprising instructions operable to cause a computer coupled to a display device to:
interact with a user to define one or more business rules in a declarative manner;
display a set of business rules as one or more editable conditions and one or more editable actions, the conditions and the actions being linked to each other by a combination of one or more editable if-values and one or more editable then-values, wherein if-values and then-values are explicitly linked to each other, conditions and if-values are explicitly linked to each other, and then-values and actions are explicitly linked to each other in the display, and wherein at least one condition or action includes a statement containing an operator;
receive from the user inputs editing one or more of the conditions, actions, if-values, or then-values; and
calculate, based on the statement, a value for the at least one condition or action that includes the statement.
2 . The product of claim 1 , wherein the statement is an assignment statement assigning a value to a field.
3 . The product of claim 2 , wherein the statement calculates the value assigned to the field.
4 . The product of claim 1 , wherein the operator is a comparison operator or an arithmetic operator.
5 . The product of claim 1 , the product further comprising instructions to:
display business rule statements in plain language, each business rule statement being linked to a rule in the set of business rules.
6 . The product of claim 1 , the product further comprising instructions to:
display one or more preconditions, where each precondition acts as an additional condition for each rule in the set of business rules.
7 . The product of claim 1 , the product further comprising instructions to:
receive an input from the user setting an override precedence of one rule over another rule in the set of business rules; and
display the user-defined precedence.
8 . The product of claim 1 , wherein at least one condition or action includes a complex business term, a complex business term being a business term having a specific scope within a vocabulary of business terms, the scope being determined by relationship traversals between entities in the vocabulary.
9 . A computer program product, tangibly stored on a computer-readable medium, comprising instructions operable to cause a computer coupled to a display device to:
interact with a user to define one or more business rules in a declarative manner;
display a set of business rules as one or more editable conditions and one or more editable actions, the conditions and the actions being linked to each other by a combination of one or more editable if-values and one or more editable then-values, wherein at least one condition or action includes a complex business term, a complex business term being a business term having a specific scope determined by relationship traversals; and
receive from the user inputs editing one or more of the conditions, actions, if-values, or then-values.
10 . The product of claim 9 , further including instructions to:
display the complex business term explicitly linked to a corresponding editable alias; and
display the alias in the at least one condition or action to represent the complex business term.
11 . The product of claim 9 , further including instructions to:
display the complex business term in the at least one condition or action using a dot notation that gives the complex business term a specific context in a vocabulary of business terms.
12 . The product of claim 9 , further including instructions to:
display the complex business term as a branch off of an entity node in a tree view of business terms.
13 . The product of claim 12 , further including instructions to:
receive user input dragging the complex business term from the tree view of business terms and dropping the complex business term into the at least one condition or action.
14 . The product of claim 9 , wherein the specific scope is within a vocabulary of business terms and the relationship traversals are between entities in the vocabulary.
15 . The product of claim 9 , the product further comprising instructions to:
display business rule statements in plain language, each business rule statement being linked to a rule in the set of business rules.
16 . The product of claim 9 , the product further comprising instructions to:
display one or more preconditions, where each precondition acts as an additional condition for each rule in the set of business rules.
17 . The product of claim 9 , the product further comprising instructions to:
receive an input from the user setting an override precedence of one rule over another rule in the set of business rules; and
display the user-defined precedence.
18 . The product of claim 9 , wherein at least one condition or action includes a statement containing an operator, the product further comprising instructions to:
calculate, based on the statement, a value for the at least one condition or action that includes the statement.
19 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
interacting with a user to define one or more business rules in a declarative manner;
displaying a set of business rules as one or more editable conditions and one or more editable actions, the conditions and the actions being linked to each other by a combination of one or more editable if-values and one or more editable then-values, wherein if-values and then-values are explicitly linked to each other, conditions and if-values are explicitly linked to each other, and then-values and actions are explicitly linked to each other in the display, and wherein at least one condition or action includes a statement containing an operator;
receiving from the user inputs editing one or more of the conditions, actions, if-values, or then-values; and
calculating, based on the statement, a value for the at least one condition or action that includes the statement.
20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the statement is an assignment statement assigning a value to a field
21 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the statement calculates the value assigned to the field.
22 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the operator is a comparison operator or an arithmetic operator.
23 . The method of claim 19 , further comprising:
displaying business rule statements in plain language, each business rule statement being linked to a rule in the rule set.
24 . The method of claim 19 , further comprising:
displaying one or more preconditions, where each precondition acts as an additional condition for each rule in the set of business rules.
25 . The method of claim 19 , further comprising:
receiving an input from the user setting an override precedence of one rule over another rule in the set of business rules; and
displaying the user-defined precedence.
26 . The method of claim 19 , wherein at least one condition or action includes a complex business term, a complex business term being a business term having a specific scope within a vocabulary of business terms, the scope being determined by relationship traversals between entities in the vocabulary.
27 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
interacting with a user to define one or more business rules in a declarative manner;
displaying a set of business rules as one or more editable conditions and one or more editable actions, the conditions and the actions being linked to each other by a combination of one or more editable if-values and one or more editable then-values, wherein at least one condition or action includes a complex business term, a complex business term being a business term having a specific scope determined by relationship traversals; and
receiving from the user inputs editing one or more of the conditions, actions, if-values, or then-values.
28 . The method of claim 27 , further comprising:
displaying the complex business term explicitly linked to a corresponding editable alias; and
displaying the alias in the at least one condition or action to represent the complex business term.
29 . The method of claim 27 , further comprising:
displaying the complex business term in the at least one condition or action using a dot notation that gives the complex business term a specific context in a vocabulary of business terms.
30 . The method of claim 27 , further comprising:
displaying the complex business term as a branch off of an entity node in a tree view of business terms.
31 . The method of claim 30 , further comprising:
receiving user input dragging the complex business term from the tree view of business terms and dropping the complex business term into the at least one condition or action.
32 . The method of claim 27 , wherein the specific scope is within a vocabulary of business terms and the relationship traversals are between entities in the vocabulary.
33 . The method of claim 27 , further comprising:
displaying business rule statements in plain language, each business rule statement being linked to a rule in the set of business rules.
34 . The method of claim 27 , further comprising:
displaying one or more preconditions, where each precondition acts as an additional condition for each rule in the set of business rules.
35 . The method of claim 27 , further comprising:
receiving an input from the user setting an override precedence of one rule over another rule in the set of business rules; and
displaying the user-defined precedence.
36 . The method of claim 27 , wherein at least one condition or action includes a statement containing an operator, the method further comprising:
calculating, based on the statement, a value for the at least one condition or action that includes the statement.
37 . A computer program product, tangibly stored on a computer-readable medium, comprising instructions operable to cause a computer coupled to a display device to:
interact with a user to define one or more business rules in a declarative manner;
display a set of business rules as one or more editable conditions and one or more editable actions, the conditions and the actions being linked to each other by a combination of one or more editable if-values and one or more editable then-values;
receive from the user inputs editing one or more of the conditions, actions, if-values, or then-values;
receive an input from the user setting an override precedence of one rule over another rule in the set of business rules; and
display the user-defined precedence.
38 . The product of claim 37 , the product further comprising instructions to:
display business rule statements in plain language, each business rule statement being linked to a rule in the set of business rules.
39 . The product of claim 37 , the product further comprising instructions to:
display a logical ambiguity in the set of business rules by highlighting business rules that can produce different actions for the exact same conditions.
40 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
interacting with a user to define one or more business rules in a declarative manner;
displaying a set of business rules as one or more editable conditions and one or more editable actions, the conditions and the actions being linked to each other by a combination of one or more editable if-values and one or more editable then-values;
receiving from the user inputs editing one or more of the conditions, actions, if-values, or then-values;
receive an input from the user setting an override precedence of one rule over another rule in the set of business rules; and
display the user-defined precedence.
41 . The method of claim 40 , further comprising:
display business rule statements in plain language, each business rule statement being linked to a rule in the set of business rules.
42 . The method of claim 40 , further comprising:
display a logical ambiguity in the set of business rules by highlighting business rules that can produce different actions for the exact same conditions.