Expressions

Use an Expression to conditionally control appearance and behaviors of CSM features (example: Dashboards, Forms, etc.).

In CSM, Expressions can be used in:

• Queries: In Comparison Clauses as values to search for in a specified Field.
• One-Step Actions: In Actions where you can specify values to use in Business Object Fields, e-mail messages, Tweets, temporary filenames, command-line arguments, URLs, etc.
• Dashboards: To set colors, images, text, and visibility for Widgets.
• Business Objects: To set Field values and properties, and to auto-populate Fields.
• Forms: To set colors, images, and text for Form Controls.
• Mobile Forms: To limit when certain sections are shown on a mobile device and to set values for section headers.
• Automation Processes: To limit records.
• Approvals: To define/limit trigger conditions, approvers, and set field Actions.
• Constraints: To limit what a Users sees or can select from in a Field, Related Item Selector, tab in a Form Arrangement, or Prompt.

Expression types include:

• Aggregate: Calculates an Expression against child data in a relationship (example: Counting the number of Incidents linked to a Problem).
• Case: Works as a group of if-then-else Expressions that are applied together against one field (example: If the Incident Priority equals 1, then apply the Alert - High color to the Priority alert bar).
• Counter: Uses the Counter to obtain an assigned number (example: Increment the Incident ID).
• Date/Time: Performs date/time calculations (example: Calculate a fifteen minute warning for an SLA).
• Duration: Calculates the amount of time between two dates (example: The number of hours it takes to close an Incident).
• Logical: Uses one or more conditions (example: Incident.Status does not equal Closed) to return either a true or false value.
• Number: Performs mathematical calculations using a string of tokens and mathematical symbols (example: Calculate the total cost of a Labor Cost Item by multiplying the work hours by the monetary rate).
• Text: Displays a string of tokens and text (example: Dynamically control the Last Edited text on the Incident form).
• User/Customer Data: Allows for efficient retrieval of certain User and Customer data without setting up a Relationship (example: Display a User's avatar next to a Journal record in an Incident's Arrangement).

CSM provides several OOTB stored Expressions. Use these OOTB Expressions as-is, edit them, or create new Expressions using the Expression Manager. Users can also create Custom Expressions on the fly from the Token Selector.