Expressions: Transform Your Data

Exercise to Accompany
Calling Objects

Lesson 8 Exercise

© Appian Corporation, 2021

Introduction 2

Exercise Environment 2

Save Often 2

Additional Resources 2

1 – Call an Expression Rule 3

2 – Answer Key 4

3 – Create a Constant 4

4 – Call a Constant 6

5 – Answer Key 6

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Appian Expressions: Transform Your Data Course Exercise Page 1

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 Introduction
This exercise offers you the opportunity to practice the skills you just learned in the previous
lesson.

Exercise Environment
Complete the exercises in this course using an Appian Community Edition environment. You
should have obtained one earlier to complete exercises in the previous courses in this learning
path. If you do not have an Appican Community Edition environment, get started by visiting:
https://community.appian.com/p/my-learning-journey.

In this exercise, you will practice writing expression rules, and save them in a practice folder
created in the AX application. These are practice exercises that are separate from the remainder
of your AX application. If you are working on these exercises independently and do not have the
AX application, create an application first before proceeding. Review the Create an Application:
First Steps course for instructions on creating an application.

Save Often
Appian does not automatically save updates, so save your objects frequently.

Additional Resources
Appian provides a plethora of training resources for novice Appian developers. The following
resources are particularly popular with our learners:

● Academy Online - Appian’s online courses provide useful survey courses, step-by-step
tutorials, and some additional practice exercises. Explore these resources at your own
pace. Survey courses will help you with developing a better grasp of the range of topics
you need to learn about. Video and print tutorials will help you with getting hands-on
experience with Appian.
● Appian Documentation - Appian’s product documentation will provide you with the
overview of key Appian features, newest release information, additional tutorials, and
helpful patterns and recipes to implement in your app.
● Community Discussions for New Users - Join our community of experts to ask questions
and find answers from past discussions.

Appian Expressions: Transform Your Data Course Exercise Page 2

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1 – Call an Expression Rule
In this exercise, you’ll practice calling rules while editing an expression. Follow the steps below.

1. Log into your Appian Community Edition environment, and select the Acme Exercise
application.

2. Create an expression rule object named AX_L8Ex1, and add the description, “Practice
for Lesson 8.” Save the expression in the AX Expressions Practice folder.

3. Create an expression that meets these conditions:

Write an If() statement that has a rule input named status. If status equals “Valid
User,” then call the expression rule AX_L2Ex1, an expression rule you created for the
Lesson 2 Exercise. Otherwise, return the text string “Invalid User.”

4. Enter a test value for the rule input, and click Test Rule to verify your output meets the
conditions stated above.

Appian Expressions: Transform Your Data Course Exercise Page 3

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2 – Answer Key
How did you do? Your expression and test output should look like the following screenshot:

3 – Create a Constant
Using a constant is a best practice for storing literal values. Let’s say you need to create a
constant to store a date. Follow the steps below to create the constant.

1. In your application, select New, then Constant.

2. Name the constant AX_Exercise8, and add the description, “Constant for use in
Exercise 8 of the Expressions course.”

3. Specify the Type as Date, and enter the following value: 12/1/2021

4. Save it in the AX Constants folder.

5. Click Create.

Appian Expressions: Transform Your Data Course Exercise Page 4

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4 – Call a Constant
1. Create an expression rule object named AX_L8Ex2, and add the description, “Practice
for Lesson 8." Save it in the AX Expressions Practice folder.

2. Create an expression that meets these conditions:

Write an If() statement that has a rule input named “milestone.” If “milestone” equals
“On Schedule,” then call the constant AX_Exercise8. Otherwise, return the text
string “Revise Deadline.”

3. Enter a test value for the rule input, and click Test Rule to verify your output meets the
conditions stated above.

4. Save changes.

5 – Answer Key
How did you do? Your expression and test output should look like the following screenshot:

Appian Expressions: Transform Your Data Course Exercise Page 5

© Appian Corporation, 2021