Working with the PegaRULES database — Tables for rules

Twelve database tables normally contain rules. Rule instances are heavily indexed to speed the searching operations used in rule resolution.

The pzInsKey value for many types of rules is formed by concatenating the values of several properties:

pxObjClass — The formal rule type, for example RULE-OBJ-PROPERTY or RULE-HTML-SECTION
The value of each key part, from the properties listed in the Class rule for the rule type
pxCreateDateTime — The creation date and time in internal format, preceded by a # character, for example #20050830T145617.018 GMT for August 30, 2005 at 14:56:17 Coordinated Universal time.

For example, the pzInsKey value for the standard property Work-.pyStatusWork is:

RULE-OBJ-PROPERTY WORK- PYSTATUSWORK #20040927T235233.165 GMT

The RuleSet and version are not part of this value. Rules of the same name (same visible key parts) in different RuleSets or versions have a different creation date and time.

The pr4_rule_property table contains property rules (Rule-Obj-Property rule type) and property qualifier rules (Rule-Obj-Property-Qualifier rule type).

Item	Description
Database table	`pr4_rule_property`
pzInsKey elements	pxObjClass pyClassName pyPropertyName pxCreateDateTime
Rows	Over 10,000 standard properties, plus properties in your application RuleSets.
Indexes	Through multiple indexes, properties can be selected by Applies To class (pyClassName), RuleSet, RuleSet Version, and visible key (pxInsName).

For example, the pzInsKey value for the property PegaSample.pyDueBy is:

RULE-OBJ-PROPERTY PEGASAMPLE PYDUEBY #20040927T235125.886 GMT

The pr4_rule_flow table contains flows (Rule-Obj-Flow rule type).

Item	Description
Database table	`pr4_rule_flow`
pzInsKey elements	pxObjClass pyClassName pyFlowName pxCreateDateTime
Rows	Standard flows, plus flows in your application RuleSets.
Indexes	Through multiple indexes, flows can be selected by Applies To class (pyClassName), RuleSet, RuleSet Version, and visible key (pxInsName).

For example, the pzInsKey value for the property Work-.StandardBasicWork is:

RULE-OBJ-FLOW WORK- STANDARDBASICWORK #20050922T182708.044 GMT

For each flow, the system saves a JPG image of the Process Modeler diagram in a binary file rule (Rule-File-Binary rule type).

The pr4_rule_requirement table contains application requirements (Rule-Application-Requirement rule type).

Item	Description
Database table	`pr4_rule_requirement`
pzInsKey elements	pxObjClass pxInsName pxCreateDateTime
Rows	Application requirements.
Indexes	Through multiple indexes, requirements can be selected by its class (pxObjClass) and visible key (pxInsName).

For example, the pzInsKey value for the requirement OrderFW.OrderNumber is:

RULE-APPLICATION-REQUIREMENT ORDERFW ORDERNUMBER #20120328T194203.480 GMT

The pr4_rule_usecase table contains application specifications (formerly known as use cases) (Rule-Application-UseCase rule type).

Item	Description
Database table	`pr4_rule_usecase`
pzInsKey elements	pxObjClass pxInsName pxCreateDateTime
Rows	Application specifications
Indexes	Through multiple indexes, flows can be selected by its class (pxObjClass) and visible key (pxInsName).

For example, the pzInsKey value for the use case OrderFW.Purchase.StartPurchase is:

RULE-APPLICATION-USECASE ORDERFW PURCHASE!STARTPURCHASE #20120328T194203.480 GMT

The pr4_fieldvalue table contains field value rules (Rule-Obj-FieldValue rule type).

Item	Description
Database table	`pr4_rule_fieldvalue`
pzInsKey elements	pxObjClass pyClassName pyFlowName pxCreateDateTime
Rows	About 5,000 standard field value rules, plus field value rules in your application RuleSets.

For example, the field value rule Work-.pyStatusWork.New defines a value used in the Local List for the work item status property pyStatusWork. The pzInsKey is:

RULE-OBJ-FIELDVALUE WORK- PYSTATUSWORK!NEW #20040928T000337.867 GMT

Instances of five rule types are stored as rows of the pr4_rule_file table:

Rule-File-Binary
Rule-File-Bundle 5.4
Rule-File-Form
Rule-File-Text
Rule-File-eForm

Item	Description
Database table	`pr4_rule_file`
pzInsKey elements	pxObjClass pyClassName pyFileName pyFileType pxCreateDateTime
Rows	About 10,000 rows for standard Rule-File- rules, plus other rows for rules in your application RuleSets.

For example, the binary file rule named webwb.image19.gif holds the Compuserve GIF file used on the standard log-on form. The pzInsKey value for the this rule is:

RULE-FILE-BINARY WEBWB IMAGE19!GIF #20040107T153125.857 GMT

For a binary file rule, the system converts the binary file (such as a JPG image or Windows DLL) to text characters using Base64 coding and stored within the pzPVStream column (Storage Stream, or BLOB). Similarly for an eForm file rule, a PDF file is stored within the pzPVStream column.

Instances of the Rule-Generated-Activity and Rule-System-Generated-Access classes contain system-generated information. These rule instances are stored as rows in the pr4_rule_sysgen table.

RuleSets (Rule-RuleSet-Name) and RuleSet versions (Rule-RuleSet-Version) are stored in a foundation table, pr4_rule_ruleset. 6.2SP2

Class rules (Rule-Obj-Class) are stored in a foundation table, pr4_base. See Table and Column Basics.

Shortcut rules and category rules, which support the Report Browser, are stored in the pr4_rule_shortcut table.

Rules of three rule types supporting the Automated Unit Testing facility (Rule-Autotest-) are stored in the pr4_rule_autotest table.

By default, rules of types other than those presented above are stored in the pr4_rule table.

Advanced feature If you create a custom rule type, you can also create a dedicated database table to hold the rules and the associated triggers the table requires. This eliminates the risk that future Pegasystems upgrades to the standard database tables listed above may interfere with the exposed columns and other details needed by the custom rule type. However, this also means that after an upgrade you may need to take extra steps to ensure that your rule table and its associated triggers are correct and up to date. In most cases, it is easier to use an existing rule table and, if necessary, optimize a few extra columns to expose the data your rule type needs.