Primary page for activities

The primary page is a clipboard page with the same class as the activity (or selected other rules), designated when the activity is called. This page is the default location of properties referenced with a dot and no preceding page name. For greater clarity, you can reference a property on the primary page using the keyword PRIMARY followed by a dot and the property name.

When a Branch or Call instruction executes, the page in the Step Page column of the step becomes the primary page of the called activity. If the Step Page column is blank, the primary page of the current activity becomes the primary page of the called or branched-to activity.

The primary page of an activity becomes the step page of each step, except for steps where the Step Page column is not blank.

Don't confuse the primary page with the parameter page, which has a page structure but is not named, has no class, and is not part of the clipboard. References to parameters (not properties) on the parameter page always include the PARAM keyword before the dot.

Primary page for other class-based rule types

Many rule types in addition to activities have an initial key part (labeled Applies To) that identifies the class of objects that the rule applies to. However, the page at runtime that such rules "operate on" may be the current primary page, or may be another page of that class. ERSNG 10/30/07

Execution of such rules can change property values on the primary page or on another page. Execution of such rules does not alter which page is "the" primary page, except for the following rule types:

• Model rules (Rule-Obj-Model rule types), for example as affected by the Apply-Model method.
• Declarative rules (Rule-Declare-* ), but only for the duration of their execution VAGUE

Determining the current primary page

Use the Public API function tools.getPrimaryPage() to determine the primary page.

Java analogy

For Java developers: The primary page notation is similar to the this keyword in Java. See Process Commander for Java developers.

	parameter page, step, step page
	Branching to another activity Calling another activity Debugging with the Tracer Property references in expressions Understanding page names and reserved pages

Definitions — P