Index() or dot notation?

Jamal Case

Certified Lead Developer

over 6 years ago

Hi All,

I just wanted to know what's Appian best practices when it comes to retrieving data from a data subset. Should I index into the data subset or use dot notation? I noticed that when I use index() it doesn't throw an error for a null result set but does throws an error if I use dot notation. I know dot notation would cause a pink screen error on the tempo interface but debugging this would be quite simple since we know exactly where the error is coming from. For index(), this wont throw an error on tempo but will be harder to debug and would be a silent fail if a user doesn't raise the issue that that data is coming null when it shouldn't.

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Mike Schmitt over 6 years ago +3
Certified Lead Developer

I personally prefer to use property() to retrieve dot properties, and reserve index() for retrieving indexes (i.e. from an array) -- even though the two functions are functionally identical, i stress that…
coreyd146 over 6 years ago in reply to Mike Schmitt +2
Certified Senior Developer

Hello Mike, I agree with your use of property(). I prefer to use property() when I am referencing a specific CDT field and index() when looking for specific indices.
Mike Schmitt over 3 years ago in reply to joelj +2
Certified Lead Developer

The easiest example of a case where it's necessary is the results of a!queryEntity where the possibility exists that the resulting query data set will contain zero rows (i.e. an empty set). It's usually…

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davids0001 over 6 years ago

I cannot think of a single reason why I would ever, ever want pink box error over some other functionality. Verbose errors, such as Appian likes to display in these cases, open up your whole architecture and design to malicious users who can use your error messages to find out how to crack your system.

Users report error messages and often don't distinguish between them, which makes it hard to explain how these are separate issues and not the same one. You spend time fixing one pink box, and they tell you that you haven't showing you a completely different one, thinking it's the same thing.

Using other methods allows you to try again, or go through a different process flow, or wait, or as they have stated display some meaningful information to the user, or do any number of things you could think of to allow process to continue. When you get a pink box, it comes do a dead halt and only sys admin or someone with designer privilege can get it going again.
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davids0001 over 6 years ago

I cannot think of a single reason why I would ever, ever want pink box error over some other functionality. Verbose errors, such as Appian likes to display in these cases, open up your whole architecture and design to malicious users who can use your error messages to find out how to crack your system.

Users report error messages and often don't distinguish between them, which makes it hard to explain how these are separate issues and not the same one. You spend time fixing one pink box, and they tell you that you haven't showing you a completely different one, thinking it's the same thing.

Using other methods allows you to try again, or go through a different process flow, or wait, or as they have stated display some meaningful information to the user, or do any number of things you could think of to allow process to continue. When you get a pink box, it comes do a dead halt and only sys admin or someone with designer privilege can get it going again.
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