Target variables

A variable is a variable element in a text string that is given a value ( = that is expanded; of which the name is substituted by a value) at a later time than when the text string is declared.

A target variable is a text string that is expanded after it is handed to other environments than Development (the "targets"). The sole purpose of target variables is configuration. They provide an optional way to tailor (configure) released deliverables to a specific target machine or target environment.

Target variables may occur :

•As values of Rules Service settings (see Example 1).

•In SQL statements contained in an upgrade script (see Example 2).

An occurrence of a target variable is expanded by running a deploy script away from the Delivery Manager client/server application.

The name of a target variable must start with ${ and end with }. The name contained by the curly braces must be made up of alphanumeric characters. Full stops, hyphens and underscores are also allowed.

Names of source variables are case-sensitive. You cannot have overlapping source variable names, nor can you have names that overlap if it were not for the lowercase/uppercase distinction.

Names of target variables are in a different namespace than names of source variables.

The value of a target variable is allowed to be any text string, including the empty string.

Example

This example shows a target value used to set

INVOKE XML.EXPORT WITH

SELECT '${release}\custom\initdata\Catalogue.xml' WriteOutputTo

, *

FROM tour

The variable is expanded when the task is checked. The result could look like this:

INVOKE XML.EXPORT WITH

SELECT \\fs\myapp$\Releases\2.1.12\custom\initdata\Catalogue.xml' WriteOutputTo

, *

FROM tour