1. Troubleshooting D2W Rules
David LeBer
Align Software Inc.

2. Why, why, Oh why?

3. “With great power comes great opacity.”

4. Knowledge is light...
• Understand the rules
• Understand their sources
• Understand the tools

5. Getting to know the Rules

6. The Rule Files
• user.d2wmodel and d2w.d2wmodel
• In your Application
• In its Frameworks
• Identifying all of the rules at play is critical

7. Example: ERModernMoviesDemo
• ERModernMoviesDemo - user.d2wmodel/d2w.d2wmodel
• ERModernLook - d2w.d2wmodel
• ERModernDefaultSkin - d2w.d2wmodel
• ERModernDirectToWeb - d2w.d2wmodel
• ERDirectToWeb - d2w.d2wmodel
• JavaDirectToWeb - d2w.d2wmodel

8. ALL of those rules affect your
apps behaviour.

9. RuleModeler to the rescue

10. Demo

11. Anatomy of a Rule
100 : entity.name = ‘MovieRole’ => displayNameForEntity = “Movie Role” [Assignment]
Left Hand Side (LHS) Right Hand Side (RHS)

12. Your Job ( should you accept it...
)
this hard drive will self destruct in...
• Determine what LHS condition will identify the point in your app
that you want the behaviour to change.
• Identify what RHS key controls that behaviour
• Identify what value the RHS key needs to be need to be set to.

13. Why a priority of a million may
not be a good idea
• Establish priority guidelines
• Stray from those guidelines at your peril
• Arbitrarily high priorities, probably mean you are doing it wrong

14. Common Rule Problems
• Typos
• Conflicting LHS qualifier with rules higher up the hierarchy
• Incorrect or non-existent keys

15. Rule Keys and Values
• Components
• The d2wContext
• Assignment objects
• Other rules

16. Components
/**
* From ERMODListPage.java
*
* @d2wKey printerButtonComponentName
* @d2wKey emptyListComponentName
* @d2wKey headerComponentName
* @d2wKey entity
* @d2wKey allowsFiltering
* @d2wKey repetitionComponentName
* @d2wKey batchNavigationBarComponentName
* @d2wKey displayNameForEntity
* @d2wKey pageWrapperName
* @d2wKey returnButtonLabel
*/

17. Components
100 : entity.name = ‘MovieRole’ => displayNameForEntity = “Movie Role” [Assignment]

18. d2wContext
• task
• entity
• propertyKey
• attribute
• relationship

19. Assignment Objects
100 : entity.name = ‘MovieRole’ => displayNameForEntity = “Movie Role” [Assignment]
100 : entity.name = ‘MovieRole’ => isEntityEditable = “true” [BooleanAssignment]
100 : pageConfiguration like ‘*Article*’ => entity = “Article” [EntityAssignment]

20. Assignment Objects
0 : *true* => actions = “defaultActions” [ERDKeyValueAssignment]
0 : task = ‘list’ => defaultActions = “<ERDDefaultActionAssignment>” [ERDDefaultActionAssignemnt]
// From ERDDefaultActionAssignment
public NSDictionary defaultActions(D2WContext c) {
NSDictionary actions = new NSDictionary(new Object[] { defaultLeftActions(c), defaultRightActions(c) },
new Object [] {"left", "right"} );
log.debug(actions);
return actions;
}

21. Other Rules
50 : pageConfiguration like EditList* => subTask = “list” [Assignment]
1 : subTask = 'list' => repetitionComponentName = “ERDListPageRepetition” [Assignemnt]

22. Did you turn it off and back on
again?

23. Did you turn it off and back on
again?

24. Did you turn it off and back on
again?

25. Did you turn it off and back on
again?

26. Demo

27. Page Configurations
• A shortcut to identify a task and entity combination
• Naming convetion: TaskModifierEntity
• Are easier to read and remember
• Are more flexible
• Can reduce the number of rules required

28. Wildcard Gotchas
50 : pageConfiguration like ‘*Movie*’ => someKey = “someValue” [Assignment]
50 : pageConfiguration like ‘Inspect*Movie*’ => someKey = “someDifferentValue” [Assignment]
60 : pageConfiguration like ‘Inspect*Movie*’ => someKey = “someDifferentValue” [Assignment]

29. Demo

30. Use the tools Luke

31. Demo

32. Q&A