Source Objects
A source object is the data your rules look at, such as an order, a customer or a loan application. Every rule is written against one source object, and the Rule Editor offers that object's fields, in-rule methods and actions, and nothing else. Source objects are what make a rule safe: a rule can only use what its source object really has. This section explains where source objects come from, how they change over time, and how to look inside them.
Source objects come from your application. Your application tells the repository about each one, and the repository keeps a copy of its definition: the fields, their types, and the settings that guide what a rule may do with them, such as a number's lowest and highest allowed value. You cannot add or change fields in the repository; that is done in your application by the people who build it.
These parts of the repository show source objects:
- The Source Objects tab: a grid of every source object, with what belongs to each.
- The Source Object dialog: one source object's statistics, notes, saved test values and name.
- The Source Versions tab and the Source Version dialog: each definition the source object has had over time. See Source Versions.
Where source objects come from
When your application brings a source object in for the first time, the repository creates it with its first version, and that version is live. Records your application creates show System as their creator, unless your application names a person.
Later, your application sends the definition again whenever it chooses, such as each time it starts. When the definition has changed, the repository updates the version it has or adds a new one. See When the Source Object Changes.
The Source Objects grid
Click the Source Objects tab. Each row is one source object:
| Column |
What it shows |
| Source |
The source object's name |
| Created By, Created On |
Who brought it in, and when |
| Modified By, Modified On |
Who last changed its name or description, and when |
| Versions |
How many versions it has |
| Rules, Rule Versions |
The rules written against it, and all their versions |
| Drafts, Tests |
Its drafts and saved tests |
| ≠, ✓, ✗ |
Its tests not run yet, and its live evaluations that succeeded and that ended in an error |
A count in red is a link to those records. See Grids: Filters, Sorting and Paging.
The Source Object dialog
Click a row to open the Source Object dialog. Its information line gives the source object's ID and names its live version; click the version to open it.
Its tabs:
- Stats: a chart of the saved tests and those not run yet (click Not Run to list them), a chart of the live evaluations (all of them, the successful ones and those that ended in an error), and under them Live Evaluations over time, for each day or month. Select Last 10 days, Last 3 months or Last 12 months in its corner. The numbers count every version of the source object.
- Internal Notes: working comments about the source object. See Notes and Descriptions.
- Value Templates: saved sets of test values for this source object. See Value Templates.
- Details: the Name and Description, with Save Changes and Delete Source Object.
At the bottom:
- Show related... lists the source object's versions, rules, rule versions, drafts, tests, live evaluations and activity.
- Test... opens the Test dialog for this source object. See Testing Rules.
- New Draft... and New Rule... start a draft or a rule with this source object already selected. See Creating Rules.
Rename a source object or describe it
Your application names a source object when it first brings it in. After that, only people rename it.
- Open the source object and click Details.
- Change the Name or the Description. The description is what tooltips show and, where your application offers the AI features, what the AI reads about the source object.
- Click Save Changes.
You need permission to change a source object. Without it, Save Changes is turned off.
Delete a source object
Deleting a source object deletes everything under it, for good: its versions, its rules and their versions, drafts, tests, live evaluations and activity. The repository refuses while any version of the source object or of its rules is live. Read Deleting before you use Delete Source Object.