Home · Concepts · Configuration · Main · Audits · Examples · Troubleshooting

Core Concepts

Overview · Subject · Match · Target · Condition

Target Node — StringCases

Overview · StringCases · NumericBands · StringCompare · NumericCompare · Direct

Purpose

The StringCases target type categorises string values into predefined groups.

Each group represents a collection of recognised values and assigns a flag when a match is found.

This allows audit rules to classify string values and assign different severities depending on the recognised value.

StringCases is commonly used for validating properties such as:

How StringCases Works

When a Target uses the StringCases type, the value in the target column is compared against a collection of defined cases.

Each case group contains an array of patterns and is associated with a flag.

The case groups are evaluated in the following order:

Okay → Info → Warn → Error

If the value matches a pattern within one of the case groups, that group’s flag is applied to the cell.

If no patterns recognise the value, the Otherwise flag is applied.

Case Groups

StringCases contains four case groups:

Each group contains an array of patterns representing recognised values.

Example:

Okay:
    S355
    S460

Warn:
    S235

If the cell value matches any pattern within a group, that group’s flag is applied.

Each group may contain multiple values.

Otherwise Result

If the value does not match any of the defined patterns, the Otherwise flag is applied.

In most cases, Otherwise is left as Error, which allows any unrecognised values to be automatically flagged.

Because of this behaviour, it is usually unnecessary to populate the Error case group unless specialised behaviour is required.

Example:

Okay:
    S355
    S460

Warn:
    S235

Otherwise: Error

Any value other than the recognised ones will be flagged as Error.

Pattern Matching

StringCases supports two pattern matching modes, controlled by the MatchKind property.

Exact

The value must match the pattern exactly.

Example:

Pattern: S355
Value: S355
Result: Match

Pattern: S355
Value: S355JR
Result: No match

Exact matching is useful when values must match specific identifiers.

Like

The Like mode allows wildcard matching using *.

Wildcards are supported only at the start and/or end of the pattern.

Example:

Pattern: S355*

This will match values such as:

S355
S355JR
S355J2

Wildcards are not supported in the middle of the pattern.

Case Arrays

Each severity group supports an array of values.

This allows a single case group to recognise multiple valid options.

Example:

Okay:
    S355
    S355JR
    S355J2

Each value in the array is treated as a valid recognised option.

Using Tokens in Messages

Values listed within the case groups can be referenced in audit messages using tokens.

For example:

{@OKAY}

This token will display the values defined in the Okay case group.

Example message:

Expected material: {@OKAY}

When a user clicks on a flagged cell, the message panel will display the list of expected values.

The same token system applies to other groups:

{@INFO}
{@WARN}
{@ERROR}

This allows messages to dynamically display recognised values without repeating them manually.

Duplicate Values

Values should not appear in multiple case groups.

If the same value appears in multiple groups, the behaviour becomes ambiguous and difficult to interpret.

If a value requires different outcomes under different conditions, this should be implemented using:

Example

Example audit rule validating steel grades:

TargetColumn: MATERIAL
Type: StringCases

Okay:
    S355
    S460

Warn:
    S235

Otherwise: Error

Possible results:

Value: S355 → Okay
Value: S235 → Warn
Value: S690 → Error (Otherwise)

When to Use StringCases

StringCases is best used when values fall into clearly defined categories.

Typical use cases include:

It provides a flexible way to map recognised values directly to audit severities.