Understand functions

A function is a set of deluge or java statements grouped together, which can be invoked within an application whenever required. Use functions to structure deluge scripts in a modular way. Related functions can be grouped under a common category, called a namespace.

Functions are mostly used for the following reasons:

• Write once and reuse utilities:

  Functions promote reusability of deluge or java script within an application or across applications created by the same user. This makes the code modular and easy to understand. If you want to repeat certain scripting functionality across different parts of an application, you can define it as a function and reuse it. Use the built-in functions provided in deluge to create numerous utility functions on your own.

• Bridge the gap between applications:

  In addition to defining generic utilities as functions, you can also use functions to manipulate the application data. Until recently, it was not possible to manipulate data in one application using scripts in another application. This is now possible using functions. We can consider the application and its data as an object and we define functions to operate on this data (compare this to member functions in an object-oriented world view). The applications can communicate with each other using functions.

• Integrate custom actions with reports:

  Functions can be integrated into various GUI actions, taking scripting integration in ManageEngine AppCreator to the next level. Functions are integrated into reports as custom actions. This enables the user to invoke a specific function on selected records in a report.