Process formulas

The formula window in the business process element settings enables you to solve many tasks without developer involvement. The functions of the formula range from automatically generating email message texts, determining the conditions for transitions between flows. Using formulas requires knowledge of basic syntax rules, which are covered in this article.

Basic syntax rules 

The formula syntax will be familiar to anyone who worked with C#. When entering formulas, it is important to follow typing. If possible, use values of one type, for example, text values with text values, numeric values with numeric values. Otherwise, you must convert values to the proper type.

In addition, we recommend you to familiarize yourself with the basic operators that will help to implement complex conditions in your formulas.

Build a complex text 

The Formula field is usually used to generate variable text.

To do this, add the Read data element parameters and constant text values to the formula:

"Compile bundle" + [#Read products.First element of the resulting collection.Name#] + "for customer" + [#Read account data.First element of the resulting collection.Name#]

You can combine two and more strings using the formula dialog. Use the + character for concatenation. To introduce a new line, use the \n control character, for example:

"1. Make an appointment with the manager." + "\n" + "2. Discuss the deal tactics with the manager."

String literals must always be wrapped in straight double quotes (" "). To ensure that control characters work as intended, check the “Is multiline” box. Otherwise, all newline characters will be filtered.

Use different types of data 

When working with the Formula element, use a single type of data. There is no need to memorize the typification — on the formula edit page, the data type of each parameter is marked with:

— unique identifier;

— numeric;

— fractional;

— text;

— lookup value;

— time and date value.

In this case, the compilation date parameter cannot be added in the usual way. To do this, you need to convert the date value to the text value:

"Compile bundle" + [#Read products.First element of the resulting collection.Name#] + " for customer " + [#Read account data.The first element of the resulting collection.Name#] + ", due date " + ([#Read order.First element of the resulting collection.Planned date of completion#]).ToString()

To convert the #Read order.The first element of the resulting collection.Planned date of completion# parameter, enclose it in parentheses and add the .ToString() property. In this case, the business process will work correctly.

Use date and time parameters 

To execute business processes with the use of operations with date and time, you can use the C# DateTime structure. The main characteristics and methods are as follows:

To check whether a date field is populated, use the != operator and the DateTime.MinValue parameter:

[#Read Lead data after Qualification.First element of the resulting collection.Decision date#]!=DateTime.MinValue

To compare two date values, use the == operator and the .Date property:

[#Read opportunity data 1.First element of the resulting collection.Closing date#].Date
== [#Read opportunity data 2.First element of the resulting collection.Closing date#].Date

If you need to calculate the difference between two date values, use the following construct:

(decimal)RoundOff(([#Read opportunity data.First element of the resulting collection.Closing
 date#]-[#Read opportunity data.First element of the resulting collection.Creation date#]).TotalMinutes)

In the formula window, select the RoundOff function and fill it in with the necessary process element parameters, in our case, the difference of values, and then add the .TotalMinutes property. As a result, you will get the elapsed time in minutes. Use the .TotalHours or .TotalDays properties to obtain same result in hours or days.

To do this, add the.TotalHours property to the element parameter, enclose the parameter value in parentheses, and then compare it with a numeric value:

(decimal)RoundOff(([#System variable.Current date and time#]-[#Read lead data.First element of the resulting collection.Creation date#]).TotalHours) > 12

When working with date and time parameters, you can also use .AddMinutes(), .AddHours() and .AddDays() functions to increment the time and date to a certain value. For example, you can bring the date and time value to user’s time zone when using the Read data element.

To do this, add the number of hours in the .AddHours() value:

([#Read lead data.First element of the resulting collection.Creation date#].AddHours(3)).Hour

Work with lookup parameters and conditional flows 

The functionality of the Formula element in a conditional flow is same as in other process elements. That is, the basic rules and operators are relevant. Conditional flows are used to transition to the next process element, if transition conditions are met.

Often, values of the lookup parameters must be compared with a specific lookup value.

To do this, compare the current opportunity stage in the conditional flow with the value in the lookup:

[#Read opportunity data.First element of the resulting collection.Stage#]==[#Lookup.Opportunity stage.Proposal.423774cb-5ae6-df11-971b-001d60e938c6#]

To check whether the lookup field is populated, use the following condition:

[#Read lead data.First element of the resulting collection.Contact#]!= Guid.Empty

To check whether the lookup field is not populated, use the following construct:

[#Read lead data.First element of the resulting collection.Contact#]==Guid.Empty

To do this, use the following condition:

[#Invoice approval.Result#] == "Approved"

In this case, the approval result is checked.

Note that there may be several solutions of this case. For example, you can use a more complex structure:

[#Invoice approval.Result#] == "Rejected" || [#Invoice approval.Result#] == "Approval pending"

In this case, Creatio checks whether the approval status is not “Rejected” or “Approval pending.”

To check the status of your presentation, use the following structure:

[#Give presentation.Result#] == true

If the presentation has not been conducted, the conditional flow will not be activated.