apply() Function

Function

apply( function, list, context )

Calls a rule or function for each item in a list, and provides any contexts specified.

See also:

• Arrays in Expressions
• merge()
• a!localVariables()
• load()
• a!applyComponents()

Parameters

Keyword	Type	Description
function	Rule or Function Reference	Rule or expression function.
list	Any Type Array	List of elements that function iterates through.
context	Any Type Array	Variable number of parameters passed directly into each function evaluation.

Returns

Any Type Array

Usage considerations

Referencing expressions and rules

Use fn!functionName to reference an expression function and rule!ruleName to reference a rule.

Using rules or functions with multiple arguments

To use rules or functions that take more than one argument, use the merge() function. For example, given a rule g(x, y), apply(rule!g, merge({a, b, c}, {d, e, f})) returns {g(a, d), g(b, e), g(c, f)}.

Understanding results

Null lists return a null list without executing the function.

The result of each operation is appended to each other in the same order as their corresponding item in the input list. If the result of each operation is an array, apply() returns a two-dimensional array which can then be used for further computation. When the two-dimensional array is saved into a process variable, a node input or a custom data type, the array is flattened to a one-dimensional array. Local variables, however, can store the two-dimensional array without flattening it.

Flattening data

If you save the nested arrays into a process variable for multiple values, the nested function is flattened. Keep in mind that casting to a flattened array only happens when saving into a process variable, node input, custom data type, or custom data type field.

To avoid having the nested function flatten, you can use the output of the apply() function as the input for a merge() function.

Alternatives when working with local data

apply() cannot be used with rules or functions that store local data. This means any local variable that can be saved into, such as variables created using load() or a!localVariables() without using the "refreshAlways" configuration, cannot be created. Additionally, a!forEach() and some components cannot be used. In these cases, apply() will return an error. In these cases, use a!forEach() or a!applyComponents() instead of apply().

Examples

Given a function h(x, y), apply(fn!h, {a, b, c}, v) returns {h(a, v), h(b, v) ,h(c, v)}

apply(fn!sum,{-1,2,3},2) returns 1, 4, 5

Feature compatibility

The table below lists this function's compatibility with various features in Appian.

Feature	Compatibility	Note
Portals	Compatible
Offline Mobile	Compatible
Sync-Time Custom Record Fields	Compatible	Can be used to create a custom record field that only evaluates at sync time.
Real-Time Custom Record Fields	Incompatible
Process Reports	Incompatible	You cannot use this function to configure a process report.
Process Events	Incompatible	You cannot use this function to configure a process event node, such as a start event or timer event.

Feedback