You define input, output, and input/output parameters for rulesets to exchange data with rule applications.
Ruleset parameters provide a mechanism for exchanging data between a ruleset and an application.
Ruleset parameters are defined by the following elements:
A name
A BOM type (that is, a class in the business object model)
A direction:
IN: The parameter value is provided as input to the ruleset on execution.
OUT: The parameter value is set by the execution of the ruleset and provided as output from the ruleset at execution completion.
IN_OUT: The parameter value is provided as input to the ruleset on execution and its value can be modified by the ruleset and provided as output at execution completion.
For example, consider an application that calculates a customer rating score for a bank. The rule project can use the customer name as an IN parameter and the customer score as an OUT parameter. An application that recalculates the score can use the customer name as an IN parameter and the previous score as an IN_OUT parameter, taking the previous score as input and using the same parameter to yield the modified score as output.
Optionally, you can assign a default value and a verbalization to IN and IN_OUT ruleset parameters. For details on ruleset parameter setup, see Adding or removing ruleset parameters.
You can add ruleset parameters of any type to any rule project. Any part of the rule project can reference ruleset parameters: rules, decision tables, decision trees, rule tasks, and functions.
The ruleset parameters of a project make up the ruleset signature. The signature contains a list of the ruleset parameter names, type, and direction. It provides the interface to a ruleset. The rule engine, Rule Designer, and Rule Execution Server all support this ruleset interface definition. The ruleset signature is stored in a ruleset archive as an XML file. It can be generated automatically during RuleApp extraction or exported manually through the Rule Designer archiving procedure.
In contrast to ruleset parameters, ruleset variables are internal to a ruleset and provide a way to exchange data between rules, functions, and tasks. See ../../com.ibm.odm.dserver.rules.designer.author/authoring_topics/tpc_rulesetvariables_intro.html for details.