Defining Prep Get Next Approver rules

The Prep Get Next Approver rule type gathers information to be used by Get Next Approver rules. (In the rule name, "prep" is an abbreviation for "prepare.") These rules use a Set Fields action to place values in certain fields.

To define a Prep Get Next Approver rule

1. Follow the procedure in Creating-a-rule to complete the basic information about the rule.
   • Select Prep Get Next Approver from the Rule Type list.
   • The rule condition in the Run If text box is optional. Use this field to define a conditional statement that controls whether the rule executes. If you do not define a condition, the rule always passes.
2. Open the Set Fields tab and perform the following steps:
   1. In the Set Fields Type field, select the action type from the menu. See Defining-actions-for-a-rule.
   2. If the action type is Query, select a form name from the From Form list. This value indicates which form to search for the data being retrieved by the query.
   3. In the On Server field, select Current if the form exists on the current server, or select Alternate if the form exists on another server, and enter the server name where the form is located in the Server field.
   4. Depending on the action type, enter the qualification statement or command line in the Qualification area.
   5. In the Fields Data area, enter the name of the field or fields to receive the data in the Field Name column, and a value statement or the name of each source form field in the Value column.
   6. Click Save.

Example of a Prep Get Next Approver rule

The Overdue Prep Get Next rule in the Lunch Scheduler sample application, illustrated in the following figure, is an example of a Prep Get Next Approver rule. It gathers information that will be used by the Rule-Based process Special Overdue Approval. The Basic tab in this example does not contain a Run If statement. This means that the rule always runs. On the Set Fields tab, a Value action increments the level field with the value $Level$+1.

Example of a Prep Get Next Approver rule