Condition step properties

A Condition step is used when the data extraction must be based on specific criteria. See Condition step for more information.

The properties of a Condition step become visible in the Step properties pane when the Condition step is selected on the Steps pane.

Description

This subsection is collapsed by default in the interface, to give more screen space to other important parts.

Name: The name of the step. This name will be displayed on top of the step's icon in the Steps pane.

Comments: The text entered here will be displayed in the tooltip that appears when hovering over the step in the Steps pane.

Rule tree

The Rule tree subsection displays the full combination of rules (defined below under Condition) as a tree, which gives an overview of how the conditions work together as well as the result for each of these conditions for the current record or iteration.

  • To rename a rule, double click on its name from the Rule tree subsection.

  • To change the way rules are combined, right-click "AND". Select OR or XOR instead. XOR means one or the other, but not both. (See XOR on Wikipedia.)

Condition

First, the Condition List displays the conditions in list form, instead of the tree form above. Three buttons are available next to the list:

  • Add condition: Click to add a new rule. This will always branch the current condition as an "AND" operator.

  • Delete condition: Delete the currently selected condition.

Conditions are made by comparison of two operands using a specific Operator.

Note: Both the Left and Right operands have the same properties.

  • Based On:

    • Position: The data in the specified position for the comparison.

      • Left (Txt and PDF only): The start position for the data selection. Note that conditions are done on the current line, either the current cursor position, or the current line in a Repeat step.

      • Right (Txt and PDF only): The end position for the data selection.

      • Height (Txt and PDF only): The height of the selection box.

      • Column (CSV and Database only): Drop-down listing all fields in the Data Sample, of which the value will be used.

      • Top offset: The vertical offset from the current pointer location in the Data Sample (Viewer).

      • XPath (XML only): The path to the XML field that is extracted.

      • JsonPath (JSON only): The path to the JSON element that is extracted. (See: JsonPath.)

      • Use Selection: Click to use the value of the current data selection for the extraction.

      • Trim: Select to trim empty characters at the beginning or the end of the field.

    • Value: A specified static text value.

      • Value: The text value to use in the comparison.

      • Use selected text: Uses the text in the current data selection as the Value. If multiple lines or elements are selected, only the first one is used.

    • Field: The contents of a specific field in the Extracted Record.

      • Field: The Extracted Record field to use in the comparison.

    • JavaScript: The result of a JavaScript Expression.

      • Expression: The JavaScript line that is evaluated. Note that the last value attribution to a variable is the one used as a result of the expression.

      • Use JavaScript Editor: Click to display the Edit Script dialog (see Using scripts in the DataMapper).

      • Use selected text: Inserts the text in the current data selection in the JavaScript Expression. If multiple lines or elements are selected, only the first one is used.

    • Data Property: The value of a data-level property set in the Preprocessor (see Preprocessor step).

    • Record Property: One of the local variables that you can create and that are reset for each document as opposed to data variables that are global because they are initialized only once at the beginning of each job.

    • Automation Property: The current value of a Document-level property set in the Preprocessor step (see Preprocessor step).

    • Extractor Property: The value of an internal extractor variable:

      • Counter: The value of the current counter iteration in a Repeat step.

      • Vertical Position: The current vertical position on the page, either in Measure (PDF) or Line (Text and CSV).

  • Operators:

    • is equal to: The two specified values are identical for the condition to be True.

    • contains: The first specified value contains the second one for the condition to be True.

    • is less than: The first specified value is smaller, numerically, than the second value for the condition to be True.

    • is greater than: The first specified value is larger, numerically, than the second value for the condition to be True.

    • is empty: The first specified value is empty. With this operator, there is no second value.

    • is true: The first specified value is true. With this operator, there is no second value. Note that the condition evaluates the left operand following JavaScript boolean rules: if the value is 0, -0, null, false, NaN, undefined, or the empty string (""), it is evaluated to false. All other values, including any object, an empty array ([]), and the string "false", evaluate to true. (See Boolean in Mozilla's documentation.)

    Invert condition: Inverts the result of the condition. For instance, is empty becomes is not empty.