New to Appian, trying out the Practice projects, and have run into this feature more than a couple of times. Since I don't understand what it is, I'm having trouble translating the exercises into keystrokes. In the latest example of "typing blind:"
Where am I?
Online Course | Learning at Appian
Tutorial: Mobile Pocket Library
4 Interface Design
ShowBookDetails Interface ...
8. In the Component Configuration window under your rule inputs drill down into the columns by clicking Section Layout. Next, click the List of Components link under Contents. Click Columns Layout. Find and select the “Show dividers” feature.
9. Our first column will display the book’s cover image if it is available. To do this, drag and drop a WEB CONTENT field from the components tab into the top column.
○ In the Component Configuration window, change the label to Cover.
○ Edit the Source as an expression by clicking the pencil icon that appears on hover. You are going to make a reusable expression for retrieving the cover of a book with its ISBN-13 value.
Type or copy & paste the following expression: "">covers.openlibrary.org/.../" & ri!isbn13 & "-L.jpg"
What I tried to do:
copy & paste the following expression: "">covers.openlibrary.org/.../" & ri!isbn13 & "-L.jpg"
The error I got:
Note the ri!isbn13 variable (?) in the url expression
What eventually fixed it (sequence of 4 screen snips):
<<success!!!
So what is that step of auto-complete? And when do I have to use it??? Copy-and-paste for the ri!isbn13 value didn't work. But typing ri and then selecting the autofill suggestion, followed by selecting the subsequent autofill suggestion for book, followed by selecting from the autofill menu of fields, and eventually getting to the isbn13 field, resolved the references to allow the URL to be fully populated and the content retrieved.
My questions are: when do I have to use this auto-complete / selection pattern, and how do I know when I need to use it? Is there any separate documentation on using the Editor, or on the Appian UI, that tells me where I am, when I should be aware of how references (variables??) are being resolved, and how to go about using auto-complete to ensure proper resolutions??? Otherwise I'm trying to follow the practice tutorials and am simply not understanding how to make use of the environment.
Thanks in advance! (pretty impressed with the tutorials and exercises so far, and Appian in general!)
Discussion posts and replies are publicly visible
The reason for why "ri!isbn13" does not work, is because you created the rule input with a different name and/or type. I did not do these trainings, so I cannot say anything here.
Now, for the auto-complete. I am not sure what your actual question is. When you start typing, Appian tries to find variables or functions in the domain you started typing.
Anna, Stefan - thanks so much for your help. I'll review the expression editor documentation in more detail. At first glance it does appear to be helpful in understanding how to operate with autocomplete. But as to understanding the context of when autocomplete is used, the answer doesn't jump out at me. But see my follow-up question to Stefan.
Stefan, a clue to what I'm asking appears in the first part of your response: "[I] created the rule input with a different name and/or type." How do I know this / where do I see this? What's the "eyeball orientation" that allows me to see this on the screen? Where did I miss those indicators? I think that may be what I'm really driving at. (PS - I've seen the "different rule or type" comment come up in a number of conversations in Appian Community. Seems it's a common enough mistake for newbies who aren't yet fully aware of where they are operating in the environment.)
Thanks again!!
Find your rule inputs in the upper right panel. I think this is pretty well covered in online trainings and tutorials.