An example of interval matching in calendar entries illustrates a special case of the "Match/Replace" action. Whereas "Match/Replace" can be applied directly to message properties that are strings, configuring a check to see if calendar properties fall within a specific time period is not as simple, since an interval check requires a comparison with two configured values, the interval thresholds. As there is only one configuration parameter available for the matching pattern, the pattern specification must contain both threshold values in this property.

Information: In this example, the "Match/Replace" action is configured to stop processing if the interval check is negative. However, this is just a hypothetical case. It could also be the case that processing continues and alternative actions are executed if the interval check is negative.

First, you must set the match mode to "constant" because only this setting checks whether a matching pattern is possibly an interval definition. The input is entered to the "Matching pattern" property by separating the interval thresholds with the value configured under "Interval separator". You can use a ";" as a separator. Afterwards, you can enter both thresholds, "G1" and "G2", as "<G1>;<G2>" to the "Matching pattern" property. The format "G1" and "G2" is a material factor in determining how the match is actually performed at runtime. You can used fixed intervals and age limits to check calendar entries/calendar dates/timestamps. Fixed intervals are specific points in time, whereas age limits are determined dynamically in relation to the time processing starts.

If you want to configure an interval with fixed thresholds, use an ISO date. For example, you would enter May 2, 2019, at 21:34 as 20190502213400. If you want to specify a fixed interval threshold of between 21:00 and 22:00 on May 2, 2019, enter 20190502210000;20190502220000 to the matching pattern. If you select 0000000000000000 for one of the two interval thresholds, ELOxc replaces these values with the oldest or most recent date. The oldest date is 19700101000000, which is the lowest possible threshold. The highest possible threshold is the start time of processing, which is why intervals with values in the future can never be set. Keep in mind that data changes that take place after the start of processing can cause interval matching to fail.

If you want to configure relative interval thresholds, you cannot use an ISO date. It would be possible to calculate the difference at the start of processing in this format, but is misleading. Instead, you need to specify two time spans that determine both time values relative to the start of processing at runtime. The input format for time spans in this case is dddhhmmss. For example, if you want to check whether a calendar property such as "PidTagEndDate" (see IPM.Appointment) of calendar entries is older than two days and two hours at the time of processing, but no older than three days and three hours, enter the values 003030000 and 002020000. The specified values are correct but require additional modification. With relative time intervals, it is necessary to add the prefix "age" (synonymous with "age check") to the interval thresholds so that the input can be recognized. In this case, you would need to enter the value Age003030000;Age002020000 to the "Matching pattern" parameter.

If you enter the value 000000000 for a time span, ELOxc automatically compares the oldest or newest possible time value in the same way as when using fixed intervals.

You can also combine both types of interval thresholds. For example, if you want to ensure that data less than two hours old is not processed, you would set the corresponding relative time limit ( age<timespan>) as the upper limit. At the same time, you may want to prevent data older than January 1, 2019, from being included in any job. In that case, you would enter a fixed point in time (ISO date) as the lower limit.

Information: Interval checks can also be applied to numeric properties. However, no special formats are required, such as the ISO date or the "time span with prefix" for time values.