This section provides an overview of the different elements that make up a condition.

Condition Elements
A condition combines three basic elements to return a filtered set of results: an attribute, a value, and an operator.

Figure 1. The three elements of a condition

The three elements of a condition:

1. Attribute: A field within a record
   Example: If Customer Information is a record in a database, then the Country field is one of attributes within that record.
   
   
2. Operator: Determines equality or difference between the attribute and the value
   Example:
   
   • Equality: Country = “US”
   • Difference: Country != “US
   
   
   Common Operators for Text
   

   Operator	Example	Description
   = (Is)	Employee Name =John Smith	The employee name must be John Smith or no results are returned.
   != (Is not)	Employee Name != John Smith	All employee names are returned except John Smith.
   Starts With	Employee Name Starts With Sm	The employee name must start with Sm or no results are returned.
   Ends With	Employee Name Ends With th	Employee name must end with th or no results are returned.
   Contains	The employee name Contains Smith	The employee name must contain Smith or no results are returned.
   Does Not Contain	Employee Name Does Not Contains Smith	All employee names except Smith are returned.
   Is Blank	Employee Name Is Blank	All records with blank in the Employee Name field are returned.
   Is Not Blank	Employee Name Is Not Blank	All records with data in Employee Name are returned.

   
   Common Operators for Numbers
   

   Operator	Example	Description
   = (Is)	Salary = 50000	Returns results for all employees whose salary is 50,000 USD a year.
   != (Is not)	Salary != 50000	Returns results for all employees whose salary is not 50,000 USD a year.
   > (Greater than)	Salary > 50000	Returns results for all employees who earn more than 50,000 USD a year.
   < (Less than)	Salary is > 50000	Returns results for all employees who earn less than 50,000 USD a year.
   >= (Greater than or equal)	Salary >= 50000	Returns results for all employees who earn greater than or equal to 50,000 USD a year.
   <= (Less than or equal)	Salary <= 50000	Returns results for all employees who earn less than or equal to 50,000 USD a year.
   Is Blank	Salary Is Blank	All records with a blank in the Salary field are returned.
   Is Not Blank	Salary Is Not Blank	All records with data in the Salary field are returned.

   
   
3. Value: The content of a field within a record. The value is user defined.
   Example: US is the content of the Country field.
   

Compound and Nested Conditions
A compound condition is the combination of two or more conditions linked by a logical operator. You can nest (group) two or more conditions to form a separate statement within a compound condition. This example shows compound and nested conditions.

Figure 2. A compound condition containing three conditions with two nested conditions

The elements of the compound condition are defined as follows:

1. A condition consists of an attribute and value that are connected by an operator (such as =) that returns true or false.
   Example: Country = US
   
   
2. A compound condition combines two or more conditions that are connected by logical operators (for example, AND) that return true or false.
   Example: Country = “US” OR Country = “Canada”
   
   
3. A nested condition uses parentheses to group conditions that are contained in another condition and are connected using AND and OR. You can also nest one nested condition within another nested condition.
   Example: A user might find a record for the year 2008, where the country equals US and the salary is greater than 50,000 or where the country equals Canada and the salary is greater than 70,000. The nested condition would look like this:
   (Country = “US” and Salary > 50000) OR (Country = “Canada” and Salary > 70000)
4. Logical operators combines two conditions together to return a set of results.
   Example: AND is used to join the "Country = US" AND "Salary > 50000" so that all records containing US and a salary greater than 50,000 are returned.

The Basic Condition Builder tool enables inexperienced users who require a simple set of attributes, operators, and values to complete their tasks.

Scenario
The compensation manager is responsible for evaluating the compensation (salary, bonus, and so on) for many employees. The compensation manager:

• Is a novice Condition Builder user
• Uses a Condition Builder to filter and more easily manage a long list of employees
• Needs only a simple set of attributes, operators, and values

Users can create conditions limited to 10 or fewer lines to ensure that the conditions are easy to create and maintain. Operators available to users include equals, not equals, greater than, and less than.

Common Word Operators
For the Basic Condition Builder, users can use common words, such as "Is" (for "=") and Is greater than" (for ">") for operators. Using common words enables users to more easily understand the condition that they are writing.

Note: You can use additional operators if they are appropriate for your use case.

Layout and Components
The Basic Condition Builder has a simple user interface that contains, at a minimum, a Name field and an editable table (with a maximum of five rows) for entering attributes, operators, and values. The Basic Condition Builder can appear in a page or dialog box.

Figure 3. Example of a Basic Condition Builder dialog box

The Structured Condition Builder is for moderate to advanced users who have experience writing conditions. The Structured Condition Builder offers users a simple and structured interface for writing long and complex conditions that contain nests.

Scenario
An order manager creates and edits conditions using operators, variables, and a predefined set of attributes. The order manager needs to be able to quickly and easily build a complex compound condition that includes nesting as well as the AND and OR logical operators.

Layout and Components
The Structured Condition Builder:

• Contains, at a minimum, a Name field and a panel with a toolbar and fields for entering attributes, operators, values, and logical operators
• Enables users to nest conditions and preview their draft condition in a textual format as they write it

Because of the complexity of the interface and the potential length of the condition, you should make sure that the condition renders on a drill-down page.

Figure 4. Example of a Structured Condition Builder page

Condition Panel
This section discusses:

• The row selection model
• Basic row behaviors
• Condition panel behaviors

The Row Selection Model
The row selection model differs from standard table behavior in these ways:

• A check box and highlighting are used to indicate that a row has been selected.

Figure 5. Example of a selected and highlighted row

• After users perform an action, such as duplication or nesting, previously selected rows are deselected and the highlighting is removed.
• New rows do not appear as selected or highlighted when added to the condition panel. If users leave a newly added row selected, they must deselect the row, and this could cause users to mistakenly perform an action on the row.

Basic Row Behaviors
Because users write conditions from the top down, common row interactions, such as Add and Duplicate, behave differently in conditions than they do in standard tables. Common row interactions include:

• Add New Row (no selection): A new row is inserted after the last row in the table.
• Add New Row (row selected): A new row is added below the selected row.
• Add New Row (multiple rows selected): One new row is added below the last selected row.
• Duplicate Row: The duplicate row is added below the selected row.
• Duplicate Multiple Rows: The group of duplicated rows is added below the selected group.
• Duplicate Noncontiguous Duplication: The group of duplicated rows is added below the selected row or group of rows. For example, if users select rows 2, 3, and 5, and then click the Duplicate icon button, the duplicated rows appear below the 2 and 3 grouping and below row 5.
• Delete Row: The selected row is deleted from the table. All rows below it move up to fill the space.

Condition Panel Behaviors
This section specifies the interactions associated with writing a condition:

• Add New Row (None Selected)
• Add New Row (Row Selected)
• Duplicate Row
• Delete Row
• Add Parentheses
• Add New Row to Nest
• Add Second Level to Nest
• Add Third Level to Nest
• Delete Row From Nest
• Delete Parenthesis

Adding a New Row (None Selected)

1. Users click the Add icon button or select Add Row from the Actions menu.

Figure 6. Example of adding a new row without making a selection

The results of this interaction are:

• A new row is added below the last row of the table.
• The new row is not selected or highlighted.
• The logical operator is added at the end of the second to last row. Default values are:
  • Attribute: None
  • Operator: "="
  • Value: None
  • Logical Operator: Add the logical operator to the end of the second-to-last row. This field is never available in the last row of the table.
• If the last row in a condition is nested, and users add a new row without first selecting a row, the new row is added to the end of the condition but is not inside the nest.

Adding a New Row (Row Selected)

1. Users select the check box for a row, which highlights the row.
2. Users click the Add icon button or select Add from the Actions menu.

Figure 7. Example of adding a new row with a row selected

The results of this interaction are:

• A new row (including a logical operator) is inserted below the selected row.
• If several rows are selected, whether contiguous or noncontiguous, the new row is added below the last selected row.
• The previously selected row is deselected, which clears the check box and removes the highlighting.
• The new row is not selected or highlighted.
• Default values of the new row are:
  • Attribute: None
  • Operator: "="
  • Value: None
  • Logical Operator: AND. Add the logical operator to the end of the second-to-last row. This field is never available in the last row of the table.

Duplicating a Row

1. Users select the check box for a row, which highlights the row.
2. Users click the Duplicate icon button or select Duplicate from the Actions menu.

Figure 8. Example of duplicating a row

The results of this interaction are:

• A duplicated row (including a logical operator) is inserted below the selected row. If users select several rows, whether contiguous or noncontiguous, the new row is added below the last selected row.
• The previously selected row is deselected, which clears the check box and removes the highlighting.
• The new row is not selected or highlighted.
• Default values of the new row are:
  • Attribute: None
  • Operator: "="
  • Value: None
  • Logical Operator: AND. The logical operator is added to the end of the second-to-last row. It is never available in the last row of the table.

Deleting a Row

1. Users select the check box for a row, which highlights the row.
2. Users click the Delete icon button or select Delete from the Actions menu.

Figure 9. Example of deleting a row

The results of this interaction are:

• The row is deleted and subsequent rows move up to fill the space.
  • Users can select rows contiguously and noncontiguously and delete them using the delete action.
  • If users delete the last row, the logical operator is removed from the new last row.

Adding Parentheses

1. Users select the check boxes for one or more rows, which highlights the rows.
2. Users click the Add Parentheses icon button or select Add Nest from the Actions menu.

Figure 10. Example of adding parentheses

The results of this interaction are:

• The selected rows are indented (not including the check box).
• An open parenthesis is added before the first row and a close parenthesis is added after the last row. If users select nonsequential rows, single or contiguous rows are grouped into their own nests.
• The last logical operator in the nested group is dropped below the nest to form a distinct visual grouping of the nest.
  •  If the last row in the condition is part of a nest, it would not have a logical operator.
• Previously selected (newly nested) rows become deselected.
• The new row is not selected or highlighted.

Steps Adding a New Row to a Nest

1. The user selects nested row using a check box. The row becomes highlighted.
2. The user clicks the Add icon button (or selects Add from the Actions menu).

Figure 11. Example of adding a new row to a nest

Results

• A new row (including logical operator) is added to the nest below the selected row.
• The previously selected row becomes deselected.
• The new row is not selected or highlighted.
• Default Values of New Row:
  • Attribute: None
  • Operator: "="
  • Value: None
  • Logical Operator: AND (added to the end of the second-to-last row; never available in the last row of the table)
• If the last row in a condition is nested, and a user adds a new row without selecting a row, the new row will be added to the end of the condition but will not be included in the nest.

Steps Adding a Second Level to a Nest

1. The user selects one or more rows using check boxes. The rows become highlighted.
2. The user clicks the Add Nest icon button (or selects Add Nest from the Actions menu).

Figure 12. Example of creating a second level within a nest

Results

• The selected rows are indented an additional level. An open parenthesis is added before the first row of the new nest, and a close parenthesis is added after the last row of the new nest.
  • If the selected rows are at the beginning or the end of a nest, double parentheses will appear.
  • If non-sequential rows are selected, each individual row will be added in its own nest.
• The logical operator is dropped below the nest to form distinct visual grouping of the nest.
  • If the last row of the condition is part of the nest, it will not have a logical operator.
• The previously selected row becomes deselected.
• The new row is not selected or highlighted.

Steps Adding a Third Level to a Nest

1. The user selects the rows using a check box. The rows are highlighted.
2. The user clicks the Add Nest icon button (or selects Add Nest from the Actions menu).

Figure 13. Example of nesting three levels deep

Results

• The selected rows are indented a third level. An open parenthesis is added before the first row of the new nest, and a close parenthesis is added after the last row of the new nest.
  • If the selected rows are at the beginning or the end of a nest double parenthesis will appear.
  • If non-sequential rows are selected, each individual row will be added in its own nest.
• The logical operator is dropped below the nest to form distinct visual grouping of the nest.
  • If the last row of the condition is part of the nest, it will not have a logical operator.
• The previously selected row becomes deselected.

The new row is not selected or highlighted.

Steps Deleting a Row from a Nest

1. The user selects row using a check box. The row is highlighted.
2. The user clicks the Delete icon button (or selects Delete from the Actions menu).

Figure 14. Example of deleting a row from a nest

Results

The row is deleted and subsequent rows move up to fill the space.

• Users can select rows contiguously and noncontiguously and delete them using the delete action.
• If the deleted row is the last in the nest, the close parenthesis moves up to the next row.
• If users delete all of the rows in a nested group, the parentheses are also deleted.

Steps Deleting Parenthesis

1. User selects the rows using a check box. The rows are highlighted.
2. User clicks the Delete Nest icon button (or selects Delete Nest from the Actions menu).

Figure 15. Example of deleting parentheses

Results

• The rows are no longer indented and the parentheses are removed. If you have multiple levels of nesting (indentation), the selected rows are outdented one level.
• The logical operator moves back up inline with the last row because it is not the last row in the condition. If the last row in the condition is part of the nest, it does not have a logical operator.
• The row is deselected.
• The row cannot be removed from a nest nonsequentially.
  For example: If a nest contains three rows, and user selects the second row and then clicks the Delete Nest icon button, all of the rows are unnested.

The extent of validation depends on each team's use case and user type. The validation process differs according to the type of Condition Builder solution used.

Validation is performed when the user clicks the Validate button or exits the page. At a minimum, conditions should be verified to:

• Ensure that you entered data in the required fields
• Ensure that you have made a selection in each of the Attribute, Operator, Value, and Logical Operator fields
• Ensure that you have not entered any invalid characters in the Value field (invalid characters include @, >, %, and so on)
• Ensure that the operator matches the attributes and value that you entered in the Value field
  For example, if users enter "greater than" in the Operator choice list and enter US in the Value field, the system should return an error.

Users can save a condition with errors, and a status indicating that the condition has been saved but contains errors appears. Individual teams can decide to override this option and require users to fix all errors before the condition can be saved.

Error Message Display
Validation messages should appear in accordance with the Records Messaging Guideline and the Error Message Design Pattern.