IBM BPM, V8.0.1, All platforms > Programming IBM BPM > Business rule management programming > Programming model
Business Rule Group Properties
The properties on business rule groups are intended to be used for management of business rule groups. Properties set on business rule groups can be used in queries to return only a subset of business rule groups which are to be displayed and then modified.
All properties are of type string and defined as name-value pairs. Each property can only be defined once in a business rule group. For each property defined, it must have a value also defined. The property value can be an empty string or zero in length, but not null. Setting a property to null is the same as deleting the property.
The properties on a business rule group can also be accessed in a rule set or decision table at run time. This allows a single value to be set at the business rule group to be used within multiple rule sets or decision tables in the business rule group. Only those properties defined on the business rule group are available to enclosed rule sets and decision tables.
There are two types of properties, system and user-defined. The number of system or user-defined properties is not limited on a business rule group. The system properties are used to hold specific component information such as the version of the rule model used in defining the rule logic. This system information is exposed in properties to allow for query across these fields. The system properties begin with a prefix IBMSystem and are read-only through the business rule group and property classes. System properties cannot be added, changed or deleted. An example of a system property is:
| Property Name | Property Value |
|---|---|
| IBMSystemVersion | 6.2.0 |
The values of name, namespace and display name for a business rule group are treated as system properties for query purposes, and will be part of the list of properties that can be retrieved for a business rule group with the getProperties method. These properties are not however, defined as actual property elements in the business rule group artifact and are not seen as properties in WebSphere Integration Developer as they are defined with separate and unique elements on the business rule group. They are solely provided to offer more query options.
User-defined properties are available to be used for holding any customer specific information and can also be used in queries for business rule groups. User-defined properties are available for read-write.
The properties for a business rule group can be retrieved either individually or as a list (PropertyList object). With the PropertyList, methods are provided for retrieving individual properties and adding and removing user-defined properties.
Figure 1. Class diagram of Property and related classes
