Hi Markus, Thanks for your input, would you have any specific business rule engines in mind?
One of the things we had in mind on that would be the same way we use the current templates and for instance the previews of loanschedules, where you can just get a preview of the result without having to store data straight away. This way (online) consumers can use it without re-implementing logic. Sander Sander van der Heyden CTO Musoni Services Mobile (NL): +31 (0)6 14239505 Skype: s.vdheyden Website: musonisystem.com Follow us on Twitter! <https://twitter.com/musonimfi> Postal address: Hillegomstraat 12-14, office 0.09, 1058 LS, Amsterdam, The Netherlands On Thu, Feb 25, 2016 at 11:27 AM, Markus Geiß <markus.ge...@live.de> wrote: > Hey, > hope this finds you well. ; o) > I think using a language specific expression language will force consumers > notusing Java for the client implementation to re-implement the logic. > Maybe an approach using a business rule engine, returning the name of > therule in the meta data and allow a call to the back end with the rule > name andthe entity/object reference to use, is a solution that broadens the > usage. > In this case the same logic to execute the rule can be used for ad hoc > andserver side adjustment. > > Best, > > Markus > > .::YAGNI likes a DRY KISS::. > > > From: sandervanderhey...@musoni.eu > > Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2016 16:19:41 +0100 > > Subject: Re: Expression language to extend datatables > > To: dev@fineract.incubator.apache.org > > > > Hi Keith, > > > > Hope you are well?! Long time!! > > > > Ultimately the goal is to get the calculated data stored in the actual > > datatable so that it can be used in reports, custom loan checks etc. So > > therefore what I would expect to happen as an API consumer is: > > - When pulling the template API for a certain datatable the configured > > expression will come back as metadata (same way field types or > > mandatory/non-mandatory is given back). This would allow any consumer of > > that API to also implement the same expression library in (for instance) > a > > Web UI or (offline) Android app and give instant results in their UI. > > - When saving the backend will expect this field to be empty (not > > submitted) and will evaluate the expression. > > - Any time the record is updated the expression will be evaluated again. > > - Potentially adding an endpoint/ability to just get back the generated > > results for a table, without storing, to allow online consumers to work > > with the results without implementing the same expression lib. > > > > As there is already quite some work done around datatables by conflux and > > musoni in extending the features, adding metadata to it, this seems like > a > > logical next step, although we can also debate whether it might be a > point > > where the datatables would be 'forked' into a separate endpoint more > > focussed on user-forms. > > > > So from our end the datatable>rule relationship would mainly be that the > > datatable metadata contains a user-defined expression which can be > > maintained using the CRUD on the datatables endpoint itself and is stored > > in the metadata as a (tiny)text field. > > > > All in all, this would be extending datatables quite significantly and > > therefore I think it would be good to agree on the need for doing that as > > part of a 'fork' of the datatables endpoint into a separate 'user-forms' > > endpoint, also keeping in mind other requests we've got on this such as: > > - conditional fields (Field B is only required if Field A has a value) > > - field types such as GPS or a document upload > > > > And obviously this also comes with a sensible decision on which > expression > > library to use, and other ideas around the various items listed above. > > > > So very curious to hear some thoughts. In terms of timelines we'll be > > looking to pick most if this up in Q2 . > > > > Sander > > > > On Wed, Feb 24, 2016 at 10:54 AM, Keith Woodlock < > keithwoodl...@gmail.com> > > wrote: > > > > > Hi Sander, > > > > > > >> We've been using the datatables quite extensively with more and > more of > > > our > > > >> clients, and have also been extending it a bit to make it more > suitable > > > for > > > >> offline use on a tablet etc. > > > > > > Very good. Be interesting to hear more of what you did to support the > > > offline scenarios. I must take a look at the code area to see it. > > > > > > >> The next step now would be to derive some of the fields in a > datatable > > > from > > > >> simple IF/ELSE statements or basic math formula's on other fields. > For > > > >> example: The customer has entered a weekly income of 100 (field A) > and a > > > >> weekly cost of 50 field (B) and we don't want a loan to take up more > > > than > > > >> 30% of his/her profits then in field C the formula would be > (A-B)*30% = > > > 15. > > > >> This would then obviously be stored and recalculated upon edit (if > > > needed). > > > > > > Assuming that the datatables still just supports the CRUD methods over > a > > > table, I suppose you are looking here to capture some rules onCreate or > > > onUpdate of the record in the 'table'. > > > > > > If you were ok with a 'Compile' time solution you could put in simple > Java > > > code to 'handleOnUpdateDatatableRules' or > 'handleOnCreateDatatableRules' - > > > That method might then use a naming convention based on the datatable > name > > > in use and some reflection to trigger call to a method written in java > that > > > contains your rules/logic. > > > > > > If you really wanted it to be runtime changable, then you would need to > > > support a datatable to rules type relationship. You would want to be > able > > > to write in your rule is some scripting language. One possibility is > to use > > > Javascript - you can invoke it using Nashorn ( > > > > http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/articles/java/jf14-nashorn-2126515.html) > > > > > > regards, > > > > > > Keith > > > > > > On Wed, Feb 24, 2016 at 7:16 AM, Sander van der Heyden < > > > sandervanderhey...@musoni.eu> wrote: > > > > > > > Hi all, > > > > > > > > We've been using the datatables quite extensively with more and more > of > > > our > > > > clients, and have also been extending it a bit to make it more > suitable > > > for > > > > offline use on a tablet etc. > > > > > > > > The next step now would be to derive some of the fields in a > datatable > > > from > > > > simple IF/ELSE statements or basic math formula's on other fields. > For > > > > example: The customer has entered a weekly income of 100 (field A) > and a > > > > weekly cost of 50 field (B) and we don't want a loan to take up more > than > > > > 30% of his/her profits then in field C the formula would be > (A-B)*30% = > > > 15. > > > > This would then obviously be stored and recalculated upon edit (if > > > needed). > > > > > > > > To implement this we can obviously already leverage the various > metadata > > > > tables we have around datatables, but I was not sure which expression > > > > library would be most suitable. I've currently looked around and > > > wrote-off > > > > anything not suitable under the Apache license, or that has not had > any > > > > contributions for a long time. This turned up Apache jEXL - > > > > http://commons.apache.org/proper/commons-jexl/. I was wondering if > any > > > of > > > > you had any experiences with it or have alternatives that are better > > > > suited? > > > > > > > > > > > > Thanks, > > > > Sander > > > > > > > > >
