Expressions

Use an expression to conditionally control appearance and behaviors of CSM features.

You can use an expression to:

  • Control visibility of items on forms and toolbars.
  • Dynamically display text on forms.
  • Calculate times and durations.
  • Display colors or images on a form or grid.

Use expressions in:

  • Queries: In Comparison clauses as values to search for in a specified field. See Query Builders.
  • One-Step™ Actions: In Actions where you can specify values to use in Business Object fields, email messages, Tweets, temporary filenames, command-line arguments, and URLs. See About One-Step Actions.
  • Dashboards: To set colors, images, text, and visibility for widgets. See About Dashboards.
  • Business Objects: To set field values and properties, and to autopopulate fields. See About Business Objects.
  • Forms: To set colors, images, and text for form controls. See About Forms.
  • Automation Processes: To limit records. See About Automation Processes.
  • Approvals: To define/limit trigger conditions, approvers, and set field Actions. See About Approvals.
  • Constraints: To limit what a user sees or can select from in a field, Related Item Picker, tab in a form arrangement, or prompt. See Constraints.

Expression types include:

  • Aggregate
  • Case
  • Counter
  • Date/Time
  • Duration
  • Logical
  • Machine Learning Prediction
  • Number
  • Sentiment
  • Text
  • User/Customer Data

Good to Know

  • An expression is typically identified by the expression icon Expression Icon.
  • You can create custom expressions from many places in CSM. Custom expressions are used only where they are created but can be saved as stored expressions.
  • CSM provides several OOTB stored expressions. Use these OOTB expressions as-is, edit them, or create new expressions using the Expression Manager. Create impromptu custom expressions from the token selector. For more information, see Create an Expression.
  • Security rights control access to CSM functionality; configure them in the Security Group Manager in CSM Administrator (Security > Edit Security Groups). For detailed information, see Security rights and Configure Stored Expression Security Rights.