The Expression Builder offers a flexible, code-free way to create dynamic, rule-based formulas that automate and personalize your platform. Whether customizing experiences, automating approvals, formatting content, or transforming data, you can build expressions to accomplish more with less manual effort. You can use them to set property values, calculate totals, manipulate dates and text, and drive logic, all while ensuring a user-friendly and efficient experience.
What can you use expressions for
You can use expressions in workflows, filters, validation rules, and wherever you see the 🏷️Token button to drive logic and automation:
- ✍️ Automatically set property values based on existing data
- 🔄 Generate dynamic values like URLs or personalized messages
- ✉️ Tailor communications using employee-specific details
- 🧮 Run real-time calculations, logic flows, and data transformations
- 📅 Adjust dates, merge strings, or check conditions
- 🔐 Control visibility and access based on data-driven decisions
Keyboard shortcuts
You can insert tokens as you type by typing @ or #, which opens a context menu for:
Fields
@ Opens a list of model properties to insert dynamic content.
| Expression | Description |
|---|---|
| triggeringUser.Name | The user's name who made the change to the property value. |
| triggeringUser.Email | The user's email who made the change to the property value. |
| triggeringInstanceOwner.Name | The user's name who created the model property in your Applaud tenant. |
| triggeringInstanceOwner.Email | The user's email who created the model property in your Applaud tenant. |
| triggeringInstance.Owneruser | Tenant-specific user record, which is only on that single tenant. |
| triggeringInstance.StartDate | Displays the model's property value. For example, this would show the start date value, for example, 12/03/2021. The rest of the list shows the rest of the model's properties. For example:
|
User IDs
There are two user IDs used in the Applaud system. One is for when customers have multiple tenants, which can be used across all tenants. One is for use on a single tenant only.
Functions
# Opens a list of functions to format or manipulate property values.
When you select the function to use, most functions open some options for you to select.
Numbers
For example, if you have a Salary property, you can ensure that any values are rounded up to two decimal places.
| Expression | Description | Example | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number Round() |
Rounds the value to the selected number of decimal places. You can choose to round:
|
NumberRound(NumberTypeProperty, 2, nearest)
|
30000.00 |
| Number To Text() | Changes the property type from a number type property to a text type property. | NumberToText(NumberTypeProperty)
|
30000 |
| Number To Date() | Converts the JavaScript of a date number to an ISO date string. | NumberToDate(NumberTypeProperty)
|
2021-06-22 |
| Number To Boolean() | Converts the selected number property to Boolean values given. | NumberToBoolean(NumberTypeProperty, 1, 0)
|
Output: 1 = True Boolean value 0 = False Boolean value. |
| Random Number() | Generates a random number in a given range of min and max values with specified decimal places. | RandomNumber(1, 10, 2)
|
For example, a random number like 4.25. |
Boolean
Use these expressions to configure true or false statements. For example, we have a Boolean-type property called "On annual leave."
| Expression | Description | Example | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boolean Invert() | Returns the inverse of the selected Boolean property value. | BooleanInvert(BooleanTypeProperty)
|
true |
| Boolean To Text() | Returns selected Boolean property selected true or false values. | BooleanToText(BooleanTypeProperty, On Leave, Not On Leave)
|
False-F |
| Boolean To Number() | Returns selected Boolean property to number. | BooleanToNumber(BooleanTypeProperty, 1, 0)
|
0 |
String
Use these expressions to format text. For example, we have a text-type property with the value of "the quick brown fox."
| Expression | Description | Example | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| To Upper Case() | Converts all the characters in the property to capital letters. | ToUpperCase(triggeringInstant.TextTypeProperty)
|
THE QUICK BROWN FOX |
| To Lower Case() | Converts all the characters in the property to lower case letters. | ToLowerCase(triggeringInstant.TextTypeProperty)
|
the quick brown fox |
| To Camel Case() | Converts all the characters in the property to camel case, which removes spaces and capitalizes the first letter of each word. | ToCamelCase(triggeringInstant.TextTypeProperty)
|
TheQuickBrownFox |
| To Title Case() | Converts the selected text property to title case. | ToTitleCase(triggeringInstant.TextTypeProperty)
|
The Quick Brown Fox |
| To Sentance Case() | Converts the selected text property to sentence case. | ToSentanceCase(triggeringInstant.TextTypeProperty)
|
The quick brown fox |
| First Few Characters() | Accept and store only the selected number of the first few characters of the selected text property. | FirstFewCharacters(triggeringInstant.TextTypeProperty, 3)
|
the |
| Last Few Characters() | Accept and store only the selected number of the Last few characters of the selected text property. | LastFewCharacters(triggeringInstant.TextTypeProperty, 3)
|
fox |
| Remove White Space() | Removes the white-spaces in the selected text property. | RemoveWhiteSpace(triggeringInstant.TextTypeProperty)
|
thequickbrownfox |
| Replace Text() | Finds the text you specify and replaces with the text that you specify. | ReplaceText(triggeringInstant.TextTypeProperty, quick, slow)
|
the slow brown fox |
| Split Text() | Splits the selected text property with the given separator and the occurrence of it. The separator can be a space " ", hyphen "-", underscore "_", or colon ":". The index is the text you want to display. | SplitText(triggeringInstant.TextTypeProperty, separator, index)
|
SplitText("The quick brown fox", , 2) Output: quick |
| String To Number() | Converts convert the string "1234" to number 1234. | StringToNumber(triggeringInstant.TextTypeProperty)
|
Text type property converted to a number type property. For example, if the Salary property value was 30000, this would convert the text to a number. |
| String To Date() | Converts the ISO date string to the moment date object. | StringToDate(triggeringInstant.TextTypeProperty)
|
Examples of what format the date string needs to be in for this to work: Input:
Output:
|
| String To Boolean() | Converts the selected text property, whatever that is, for example, "Yes", "No" or "True", "False" to a Boolean True or False value. | StringToBoolean(triggeringInstant.TextTypeProperty, True, False)
|
True = 1 False = 0 |
Date
Use the date functions to modify a date property. For example, we have a date-type property with the value of Wednesday, 10th November 2021, or "11/10/2021."
| Expression | Description | Example | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| Date Add() |
Adds a unit of time to your original date. Units include:
|
DateAdd(DateTypeProperty, 10 days) |
Sat Nov 20 2021 00:00:00 (Time zone) |
| Date Subtract() |
Removes a unit of time from your original date. Units include:
|
DateSubtract(DateTypeProperty, 5, days) |
Fri Nov 5 2021 00:00:00 (Time zone) |
| Date To Number() |
Changes the date to a number format. Formats include:
|
DateToNumber(DateTypeProperty, dayofmonth) |
10 |
| Date To Text() |
Changes the date to a text format. Formats include:
|
DateToText(DateTypeProperty, dayofweek) |
Wednesday |
| Today() | Shows today's date. | Today() | Today's date. |