Expression Editor

Overview

The Expression Editor allows you to write expressions for your Appian design objects.

This editor is available within a variety of objects, including expression rule objects, interface objects, and process model objects.

Elements

The following image highlights the elements that make up the Expression Editor:

#	Element	Available Actions
1	Toolbar	Learn more about toolbar actions.
2	Editing pane	Edit an expression. Use auto-suggestions. View design guidance.
3	Documentation pane	View documentation for a specific function or expression object.

Process model elements

In a process model, the Expression Editor offers standard editor capabilities like the toolbar actions and auto-suggestions, but this editor also displays key expression elements in the DATA and FUNCTIONS tabs.

DATA tab

The DATA tab allows you to quickly add variables, parameters, and properties from your process model into your expression.

These include:

• Process variables.
• Activity class parameters.
• Task properties.
• Process properties.
• Process model properties.
• Message properties.

FUNCTIONS tab

The FUNCTIONS tab allows you to quickly search, browse, and add functions to your expression.

Edit an expression

To edit the expression, place your cursor in the editing pane. Begin typing to view auto-suggestions, or select an appropriate toolbar action.

As you edit the expression, the Expression Editor displays design guidance when it becomes relevant.

Toolbar actions

The Expression Editor toolbar provides you with a list of common actions that can be used when interacting with the Expression Editor:

• Format expression
• Decrease Indent
• Increase Indent
• Show/Hide Indent Guide
• Comment
• Find
• Replace
• View Domains
• View Functions
• View Icons
• Create Constant
• Save Selected Expression As…
• Launch the Query Editor

The following sections give additional information about some of these actions.

Create constant

The Create Constant action allows you to easily create constants directly from within an Expression Editor.

To create a constant:

1. Click in the toolbar. The Create Constant dialog appears.
2. Configure the constant properties.
3. Click CREATE. The new constant will appear in your expression at your cursor's current position.

Save selected expression as

The Save Selected Expression As… action allows you to quickly move parts of an expression into a new expression rule or interface.

To use this action:

1. In the Expression Editor, highlight the part of the expression you want to save.

2. Click .

   Note:  This action is only available when the expression you have selected contains no syntax errors and returns one output (for example, lists are surrounded by braces {}).

3. In the Save Expression As dialog, configure and review the following properties:

   

   

   Property	Description
   Save As	Determines whether to save the expression as a new expression rule or interface.
   Name	The name of the new object.
   Description	A short description for the new object.
   Application	The application where the object should be created.
   Save In	The folder where the object should be saved.
   Include in the design library	When saving an expression as an interface, makes the interface available in the Design Library tab of the design mode palette for easy access. For more information, see Using the design library.
   Display Name	The name that displays for an interface you included in the Design Library tab of the design mode palette.
   Rule Inputs	Displays a grid of the new object's rule inputs. All variables that are used but are not declared in the selected expression are automatically converted into rule inputs. This section is hidden if an expression has no rule inputs.
   Expression Preview	Displays a preview of the expression that will be moved to the new object.

4. Click SAVE.

Once the new object is saved, the previously selected expression is replaced with a reference to the new expression rule or interface, and rule inputs are automatically inserted.

Auto-suggestions

As you modify an expression in the editing pane, suggestions are offered based on what you type. The Expression Editor suggests functions, rules, keywords, constants, data types, or variables that contain the characters you type and match the domain, as follows:

Suggestion	Context	Example
Functions	fn!, a!, or no domain
Function variables	fv! in a function input that has at least one available	The a!createUser() function uses the fv!user variable in its onSuccess parameter.
Rules	rule!
Data types	type!
Keywords of a rule, function, or data type	Inside a rule, function, or data type	When configuring a!textField(), typing lab will suggest label and labelPosition as keywords if typing a keyword at your current cursor position would be valid expression syntax.
Variables	local!, ri! (interfaces and expression rules), or rv! (record type)
Valid values	Inside a parameter that accepts a text value	For the style parameter of the Button Component, the suggested values include "NORMAL", "PRIMARY", "SECONDARY", etc.

When you highlight a suggested option, documentation for that option appears in a tooltip.

Selecting a suggested option from the list inserts it into your expression.

Documentation

To view documentation for any object used in the editing pane, place your cursor inside the matching parentheses of a valid expression object (or, for constants, after the object name).

For functions, documentation includes the name of the object, its description, all of its available parameters, and their data types.

For other objects, documentation includes the name of the object and any available object properties. For example, for rule inputs (ri!), documentation consists of the name, data type, and description of the rule input.

Design guidance

While writing your expressions, you may encounter expression design guidance, which are best practice design patterns that you should implement in your expressions. This guidance is calculated in real-time while editing expressions in your objects and when an object's precedents are updated.

Within the Expression Editor, guidance is indicated with a warning or recommendation icon. When possible, the affected part of the expression is also underlined. To see more details about the guidance, hover over the icons within the Expression Editor, or click on the guidance icon within the object header.

See Appian design guidance to learn more about warnings and recommendations, and how to address or dismiss them.

If your expression contains a syntax error, such as a misplaced comma or unmatched parenthesis, a red warning icon is displayed in the top left-hand corner of the Expression Editor. Hover over the warning icon to display a tooltip with details about the syntax error.

Keyboard shortcuts

The following keyboard shortcuts are available when interacting with the Expression Editor:

Action	Windows	Mac
Close find/replace dialog	ESC	ESC
Collapse/Expand code block	ALT+L	COMMAND+OPTION+L
Comment code block	CTRL+/	COMMAND+/
Copy	CTRL+C	COMMAND+C
Create constant	CTRL+Click on new constant name	COMMAND+Click on new constant name
Create constant dialog	ALT+O	COMMAND+OPTION+O
Cut	CTRL+X	COMMAND+X
Delete group before cursor	CTRL+Backspace	OPTION+Backspace
Decrease indent	CTRL+[	COMMAND+[
Delete line	CTRL+D	COMMAND+D
Format expression	CTRL+SHIFT+F	CTRL+SHIFT+F
Highlight all occurrences	Double-click word	Double-click word
Highlight all text inside	Double-click parenthesis	Double-click parenthesis
Increase indent	CTRL+]	COMMAND+]
Launch the Query Editor	ALT+V	COMMAND+OPTION+V
Move cursor before group	CTRL+Left	OPTION+Left
Move cursor after group	CTRL+Right	OPTION+Right
Move cursor to line start	Home	COMMAND+Left
Move cursor to line end	End	COMMAND+Right
Open find dialog	CTRL+F	COMMAND+F
Open find and replace dialog	CTRL+H	COMMAND+H
Open object definition	CTRL+Click on object name	COMMAND+Click on object name
Paste	CTRL+V	COMMAND+V
Redo	CTRL+Y	COMMAND+Y, COMMAND+SHIFT+Z
Select all	CTRL+A	COMMAND+A
Save Selected Expression As…	ALT+SHIFT+E	COMMAND+SHIFT+E
Select group before cursor	CTRL+SHIFT+Left	OPTION+SHIFT+Left
Select group after cursor	CTRL+SHIFT+Right	OPTION+SHIFT+Right
Select previous occurrence	SHIFT+ALT+Left	CTRL+OPTION+Left
Select next occurrence	SHIFT+ALT+Right	CTRL+OPTION+Right
Show/Hide indent guide	CTRL+G	COMMAND+G
Undo	CTRL+Z	COMMAND+Z
View domains	SHIFT+ALT+D	COMMAND+SHIFT+D
View functions	SHIFT+ALT+F	COMMAND+SHIFT+F
View icons	CTRL+I	CTRL+I

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