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Active Variables And Services

· 2 min read
Colin Hartley

Active Variables

ActiveVariables are a powerful part of the OpenDataDSL language - see how to use them

Active Variables and Services​

Active variables are the defining feature of OpenDataDSL which allows the user to interact directly with the Data Management System through the use of a well-defined, simple to use variable construct.

Using Active Variables​

Below are simple examples of how to use active variables within your ODSL scripts.

Assignment​

If you assign an active variable to an ODSL variable, it will get a single instance of your request, for example using the date service:

d2 = ${date:"2020-06-09"}

This will get you a date variable initialised with the 9th June 2020.

Saving​

Most services allow you to save a variable to a service, so for example with the memory service you can save out the current session variable context to a local JSON file:

save ${memory:file/"c:/example/memory.json"}

This will create a JSON file with all the current variables saved

Listing​

Some services allow you to get a list of variables using the find command, here is an example using the object service:

fx = find ${object} where currency="USD"

This gets a list of objects that have a currency of USD

Deleting​

Some services allow deleting variables from their service using the delete command:

delete ${calendar:"test"}

This deletes the calendar called test

Types of Active Variables​

Active Variables can be broken into 3 specific flavours which allow you to:

  • Interact with variables
  • Interact with OpenDataDSL services
  • Interact with the outside world

Interact with variables​

  • Date
  • Memory

Interact with OpenDataDSL services​

  • Action
  • Batch
  • Calendar
  • Environment
  • Expiry
  • Extractor
  • Object
  • Process
  • Report Configuration
  • Report
  • Scalar
  • Script
  • Secret
  • Series
  • Transformer
  • Type
  • Workflow

Interact with the outside world​

  • CSV
  • DHTML
  • File
  • FTP
  • HTML
  • JSON
  • ODS
  • PDF
  • S3
  • XLS
  • XML