MRules is based on Java reflection and offers a JSTL-like syntax to access data. This syntax is common and is supported for example by the Apache « commons-beanutils » library.

Early versions of MRules were indeed based on this Apache library for data access and conversions.

However, the implementation “commons-beanutils” has some drawbacks:

• Execution is slow because the code is not optimized
• There are restrictions on the syntax and data access

For these reasons, a specific implementation of the data access and conversion is provided by MRules. This implementation not only offers better performance (40% gains for data access, 10% for conversions), but also more features. For example :

• commons-beanutils does not offer access to indexed objects (i.e. Map) by variable key.
  Example :
  myBean.myMap[myKey].myField: « myKey » is treated as a String and cannot vary.
  With MRules :
  myBean.myMap[“myKey”].myField: « myKey » is treated as a String and cannot vary.
  myBean.myMap[myKey].myField: « myKey » is treated as an input bean’s field, whose value will be used as the key.
  myBean.myMap[$myKey].myField: « myKey » is treated as variable (feature specific to rule engine usage).
• commons-beanutils does not accept null “Nested Beans” while reading or writing data.
  This possibility is offered with MRules, with the choice to instantiate or not “Nested Beans” on the fly.
• Tables and Collection are managed in a much more powerful way with MRules, for example with the support of several dimensions.
• Mrules is able to access directly fields and methods, static or not, with a specific syntax:
  Example:
  myBean.!mySubBean.myField: « mySubBean » is a field which is accessed directly, not via getters / setters.
  mybean.!myMethod().myField: « myMethod » is the name of a method , which is accessed directly.
  !(MyClass.myStaticField).myProperty: « myStaticField » is a static field which is accessed directly.
  mybean.!myStaticMethod().myField: « myStaticMethod » is the name of a static method , which is accessed directly.
• MRules allows access to all properties, including private ones.
• Many more conversions are possible with MRules Converters, and it is simple to add specific implementations.

These utilities are supplied with a connector for use with code based on Apache library.

For more information, please see our How-To on data access framework.