Reference

Example: AfterInsert

One use of an AfterInsert rule is to create a link between two families after a new record is created. Consider an example where, when you create a Functional Location record, you want to link it to the Site Reference record that represents the site that contains the functional location. You can accomplish this by creating a family-level rule for the Functional Location family.

The following code shows an example of an AfterInsert rule that you could write to create a link between the Functional Location record and the Site Reference record after the Functional Location record is created. You would insert this rule into the family-level code item for the Functional Location family.

                    
                        Public Overrides Sub AfterInsert()
                    ManageSiteReference()
                    
                        End Sub
                    
                     
                    Private Sub Manage Site Reference ()
                        Dim session As EntitySession = CurrentEntity.Session
                     
                        If session Is Nothing Then
                            session = New EntitySession(ApplicationUser)
                        End If
                     
                        Dim currentSite As SiteReference = SiteReference.LoadExisting(session, CurrentEntity)
                        Dim newSite As SiteReference = SiteReference.RetrieveSiteReference(session, CurrentEntity)
                     
                        If currentSite Is Nothing AndAlso newSite Is Nothing Then
                            Return
                        End If
                     
                        If currentSite Is Nothing And Not newSite Is Nothing Then
                            newSite.AddAssetToSite(CurrentEntity)
                        ElseIf Not currentSite Is Nothing And newSite Is Nothing Then
                            If Not CurrentEntity.Fields("MI_FNCLOC00_SAP_SYSTEM_C").Value Is DBNull.Value Then
                                currentSite.RemoveAssetFromSite(CurrentEntity)
                            End If
                        ElseIf currentSite.Key <> newSite.Key Then
                            currentSite.RemoveAssetFromSite(CurrentEntity)
                            newSite.AddAssetToSite(CurrentEntity)
                        End If
                    
                        End Sub
                    
                

Example 1: Required Rule

Instead of making a field always required, you may prefer to make it required only if another field in the same record also contains a value. For example, assume that the Recommendation family contains the logical field Completed (MI_REC_COMPL_FLG), which is meant to be flagged by a user after a recommendation has been completed. The Recommendation family also contains the Completed Date field, which is meant to contain the date the recommendation was completed. Therefore, you want to create a rule so that when the Completed field is set to True, the Completed Date field is required.

To enforce this condition, you would create a Required rule on the Completed Date field that looks like this:

                    
                        Public Overrides Function IsRequired() As Boolean
                        If Object.Equals(CurrentEntity.Fields("MI_REC_COMPL_FLG").Value, True) Then
                            Return True
                        Else
                            Return False
                        End If
                    
                        End Function
                    
                

The portion of the code shown in red (MI_REC_COMPL_FLG) identifies the Field ID of the field that you want to use to enforce the Required rule condition, and the portion on the If line shown in blue (True) specifies the value that the field must contain.

Example 2: Validation Rule

Consider an example where the Recommendation family contains the field Create Work Request? (MI_REC_CREATE_SAP_NOTIF_FLG). Suppose you want to create a rule that validates the presence of an active external interface (e.g., Oracle) before GE Digital APM triggers the creation of a work request. Should the rule return no active external interface, then no work request will be created.

You could enforce the need for a work request management system by creating the following Validation rule for the Create Work Request? field:

                    
                        Public Overrides Function Validate(ByRef newValue As Object) As GE Digital APM.Core.DataManager.Customization.FieldValidationStatus
                        If InterfaceUtility.InterfacesActive(Me.ApplicationUser) Or _
                           InterfaceUtility.OracleInterfacesActive(Me.ApplicationUser) Or _
                           InterfaceUtility.MaximoInterfacesActive(Me.ApplicationUser) Then
                            Return FieldValidationStatus.Success
                        End If
                     
                        Return FieldValidationStatus.Failure(InterfaceUtility.EAM_INTERFACES_NOT_ACTIVATED)
                    
                        End Function            
                

Consider another example for a validation rule, where in the Asset Criticality Analysis datasheet, the Analysis Definition Family section contains the field Analysis ID. Suppose you want to create a rule that validates if the Analysis ID exists in the system database.

If the field validation status is a failure, then we can have the rule take the message text as input and return a failure message. We can embed a hyperlink in the validation failure error message, causing the hyperlink to be shown along with the error message under the field.

If the field validation status is a successful, then we can have the rule take the message text as input and return a success message. The message would be displayed under the field.

Example 3: Valid Values Rule

Within a list of available values, a blank value can be useful for clearing a previously selected value. When you select the blank value, it will clear whatever value had previously been selected in the list.

For example, the following code excerpt show a static Valid Values rule that will construct a list containing the values A, B, and C.

                    
                        Public Overrides Function GetPickList() As DynamicPickList
                        Dim pickList As DynamicPickList
                        'Use MyBase.CreatePickList(True) if you want a restricted PickList
                        'Use MyBase.CreatePickList(False) if you want an unrestricted PickList
                        pickList = MyBase.CreatePickList(True)
                        PopulatePickList(pickList)
                        Return pickList
                    
                        End Function
                    
                     
                    
                        Public Overrides Sub PopulatePickList(ByVal pickList As DynamicPickList)
                        pickList.AddRange("A|B|C".Split("|"c))
                    
                        End Sub
                    
                

You can add a null value to the list by inserting the code pickList.Add(DBNull.Value) above the line pickList.AddRange("A|B|C".Split("|"c)). The resulting code would look like this:

                    
                        Public Overrides Function GetPickList() As DynamicPickList
                        Dim pickList As DynamicPickList
                        'Use MyBase.CreatePickList(True) if you want a restricted PickList
                        'Use MyBase.CreatePickList(False) if you want an unrestricted PickList
                        pickList = MyBase.CreatePickList(True)
                        PopulatePickList(pickList)
                        Return pickList
                    
                        End Function
                    
                     
                    
                        Public Overrides Sub PopulatePickList(ByVal pickList As DynamicPickList)
                        pickList.Add(DBNull.Value)
                        pickList.AddRange("A|B|C".Split("|"c))
                    
                        End Sub
                    
                

Example 4: Default Value Rule

Consider an example where the Recommendation family contains the field Final Approver Name (MI_REC_FINAL_APPROVE_NAME_C). Suppose you want to create a Default Value rule on the Final Approver Name field to set it by default to the name of the user who is logged in to GE Digital APM at the time the record is approved. The resulting code would look like this:

                    
                        Public Overrides Function GetDefaultInitialValue() As Object
                        Return RecommendationUtilities.RecommendationDefaultValues.FinalApproverName(Current Entity)
                    
                        End Function
                    
                

Example 5: Disabled Rule

It may be appropriate to disable some fields conditionally, based on the value in another field.

Consider an example where the Equipment family contains the fields Plant Section (MI_EQUIP000_PLANT_SECTION_C) and Person Responsible for Plant Section (MI_EQUIP000_PLANT_SECT_DESC_C). The Person Responsible for Plant Section field does not need to be enabled until the Plant Section field contains a value.

To enforce this logic, you could create the following rule on the Person Responsible for Plant Section field so that it is disabled when the Plant Section field is empty. The resulting code would look like this:

                    
                        Public Overrides Function IsDisabled() As Boolean
                        If Convert.IsDBNull(CurrentEntity.Fields("MI_EQUIP000_PLANT_SECTION_C").Value) Or Object.Equals(CurrentEntity.Fields("MI_EQUIP000_PLANT_SECTION_C").Value, "") Then
                            Return True
                        Else
                            Return False
                        End If
                    
                        End Function
                    
                

Example 6: Format Rule

You may want to format character fields so that the value typed in the field appears in all capital letters. Consider an example where the Recommendation family contains the field Completion Comments (MI_REC_CLOSE_COMME_TX), and you want to view values in that field in all capital letters. You could create the following Format rule on the Completion Comments field to do so:

                    
                        Public Overrides Function FormatValue(ByVal value As Object) As String
                        If Not Convert.IsDBNull(CurrentEntity.Fields("MI_REC_CLOSE_COMME_TX").Value) Then
                            Return UCase(CStr(value))
                        Else
                            Return ""
                        End If
                    
                        End Function
                    
                

Example 7: Formula Rule

For some fields, rather than requiring users to specify a value, you may want to populate the field with a value that is calculated from values entered in other fields. Consider an example where the Work History family contains three cost fields:

• Maintenance Cost (MI_EVWKHIST_MAINT_CST_N): The cost to date of maintenance on the asset.
• Production Cost (MI_EVWKHIST_PRDN_CST_N): The cost to date to keep the asset in production.
• Total Cost (MI_EVWKHIST_TOTL_CST_N): The total cost of the work, including the maintenance and production costs.

In this case, you may want to require users to enter values in the Maintenance Cost and Production Cost fields and then calculate the value for the Total Cost field by adding together the values in the Maintenance Cost and Production Cost fields. To implement this functionality, you could create the following Formula rule for the Total Cost field:

                    
                        Public Overrides Function GetCalculatedValue() As Object
                        'Total Cost = Maintenance Cost + Production Cost
                        Dim maintCost As Double = 0
                        Dim prodCost As Double = 0
                     
                        If Not Convert.IsDBNull(CurrentEntity.Fields("MI_EVWKHIST_MAINT_CST_N").Value) Then
                            maintCost = Convert.ToDouble(Current Entity.Fields("MI_EVWKHIST_MAINT_CST_N").Value)
                        End If
                     
                        If Not Convert.IsDBNull(CurrentEntity.Fields("MI_EVWKHIST_PRDN_CST_N").Value) Then
                            prodCost = Convert.ToDouble(CurrentEntity.Fields("MI_EVWKHIST_PRDN_CST_N").Value)
                        End If
                     
                        Return maintCost + prodCost
                    
                        End Function