Process Engine (PE) supports literals of most supported simple and composite data types. For usage requirements and examples, select from the list below.
The only available boolean literal values are:
true false
Enter these literals as shown above-lower case, with no surrounding quotes.
A float value takes the form
[+|-]<digits>.<digits>[(E|e)[+|-]<digits>]
where either set of digits separated by the decimal point can be optional (but not both sets), and the decimal point is optional if E or e exists. Examples of float literals include:
1.0 0.53 -1e5 3.43769e-27
The maximum number of digits in a float literal is platform-dependent. If you enter a value that exceeds the limit for your server or client platform, PE silently truncates the value when storing it. Generally, float literals of 15 or fewer digits fall within the supported range and are not truncated.
PE supports two float literal formats: binary and decimal.
In mixed arithmetic of binary and decimal float values, all binary float values are converted to decimal float format for evaluation of the expression-therefore, the result of the evaluation is a decimal float value. If necessary, the result is subsequently converted back to binary float format. For example, this additional conversion is necessary if the result of the expression is to be stored in a data field, which stores only binary float values.
TIP |
Loss of precision is intrinsic to any conversion process. Many values cannot be accurately converted between decimal and binary formats (conversions from decimal to binary are generally more problematic than conversions from binary to decimal). |
An integer value can have at most 10 digits and an optional + or - sign. Examples of integer literals include:
1 -25 1426987224
Remember that the value must be between -2147483648 and 2147483647.
A string literal must be enclosed in either single or double quote marks. The literal can be up to 255 characters long, including the enclosing quotes.
The enclosing quotes are not considered to be part of the string. To include single or double quote marks in a string, you must insert two of the desired quote marks in the appropriate position within the string. For example:
To output this string | Input this |
---|---|
She said "Hello." |
"She said ""Hello.""" |
It's OK. |
'It''s OK.' |
"aaa" |
"""aaa""" |
Additional examples of string literals include:
"abc" '123' "Mary had a little lamb."
The time data type has no literal values.
Within an expression, a time value generally results from the systemtime() function, which returns the current time on the server where the expression is evaluated. A time value used within an expression can also result from an explicit conversion of a string literal, via the convert function or stringtotime function.
Enclose an array literal in curly braces ({ }), separating multiple literals with commas. For example, literal values for a float array could be:
{1.234, 4.687}
Note that you cannot use placeholders in an array literal.