Maintaining Application Components › Maintaining Criteria › Criteria Definitions

Criteria Definitions

A criteria definition for a set of criteria consists of an identifier, a description of its behavior, a run time panel, a help name, a criteria exit, a data source, exit parameters, and the criterion condition.

A set of criteria can simply compare static values (for example, numbers or field names) or can be complex, combining numerous operators, attributes, connectors, parentheses, and values.

Criteria values can be variables (for example, the current date). When a set of criteria is recalled to perform a test, variable values are supplied either interactively by the user, using a run time panel, or by an exit procedure.

Criteria are used for the following purposes:

• Selection of objects for inclusion in a list
• Inclusion of objects in a report when using Report Writer
• The condition for display of a panel within a panel domain

Criteria definitions can be public or private. Public definitions are available to all users, while private definitions are available only to their owner.

Criteria can be predefined and reused. A criteria definition specifies the set of criteria and is named with a unique identifier. Criteria are stored on a database so that they can be recalled to provide the test that they define.