Certain items such as sales tax and shipping costs cannot be
"hard-coded" into an ordering system. The methods used to
arrive at these totals are peculiar to each merchant. Hazel realizes
this, and consults "rules" files to determine how your
policies work.
Rules files are text files consisting of headers followed
by lines of "rules". A rule consists of some requirement,
and an action to be performed if the requirement is satisfied. Optionally,
a rule might have a note attached, which will be added to the order
notes if its rule passes.
Let us learn by example, grasshopper. Below is a simple sample discount
rules file.
# discount.rules
# These are the discount rules. This is a comment.
[PRICE]
100.00-200.00:x0.10 @ 10% off orders between $100 and $200!
# "[PRICE]" is the header. The requirements will be
# compared against the total price of selected merchandise.
# "100.00-200.00" is the requirement. The rule
# passes if the price mentioned above falls between 100 and 200.
# "x0.10" is the action. Since these are discount
# rules, it is interpreted as meaning "take 10% off the price of the
# merchandise".
# "@ 10% off orders between $100 and $200!" is the
# note. If the rule passes (the order price is somewhere within 100 and
# 200), then "10% off orders between $100 and $200!" will be added as an
# order note.
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As in the config file, anything after and
including a pound sign ("#") is ignored by Hazel. They're included only
to improve readability for humans.
Headers
Headers define the value which must meet a rule's requirement. Each
rules file has its own set of basic headers, detailed in their
individual sections.
Advanced users can specify any header using Hazel's HZML
tokens and a rule comparison type (separated by
a semi-colon). The table below demonstrates this, showing all three of
the rule comparison types.
[%HZT_QUANTITY;NUM] # Use the total NUMber of items ordered.
[%HZE_BILL_CITY;STR] # Use the STRing representing the shopper's city.
[%HZE_SHIP_POSTAL_CODE;ZIP] # Use the ZIP code of the shipping address.
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Requirements
Requirements have two basic forms: a "range" and a "set". A range consists of
one number ("1"), a number and a plus sign ("1+") or two numbers separated
by a dash ("1-2"). A set is one or more words separated by
pipes ("Foo|Bar|Baz").
6 # Matches only the number 6.
1-6 # Matches a number between 1 and 6 (inclusive, 1 and 6 match).
6- # Matches a number greater than or equal to 6.
6+ # Also matches a number >= 6.
FOO # Matches the word "FOO" (or "foo", or "fOo"; case doesn't matter.)
FOO|BAR # Matches the word "FOO" or "BAR".
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Actions
Actions are basically numbers with some "bookend" characters which tell Hazel
how to behave when a rule passes. You know what a number is. Now let me
introduce the "bookends", and how Hazel interprets them.
If an action begins with an underscore ("_"), then the relevant total (shipping in shipping rules, surcharge in surcharge rules, etc.) computed up to that point is reset to zero.
The initial underscore is optional. It can be followed by three other
characters.
A plus sign ("+") tells Hazel to add the given number to the running total.
An "x" tells her to multiply the running total by that number. (Note you
can use "x" to divide by using a decimal in your number.)
If an action ends with an underscore ("_"), Hazel stops reading the rules
file.
x2 # Multiply by 2.
+2.00 # Add 2. (Probably dollars.)
x2_ # Multiply by 2 and quit parsing rules.
_2.50_ # Reset the total to 2.50 and quit.
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Quirks of Individual Rules Files
Each type of rules file has its own idiosyncrasies which make its editing
slightly different than the others. All follow the same general format
(headers, requirements and actions), but each element may have a somewhat
different behaviour.
field.rules
- Field rules are defined in the field.rules
file under the rules directory
in your catalog root.
-
Field rules are only cosmetically related to the other rules files. They
provide a way to change how the Hazel CGI processes data submitted via HTML
forms. Most users won't have to edit them. If you're interested, see the
comments within the field.rules file for more information.
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