Step rules

Define rules in your simulation file to automate the selection of messages to send or receive. For instance, you can set a rule to check a value and match it to the correct service.

You always use rules together with a step, and each rule evaluate to either true or false. You can use rules for the step properties trigger, buffer, verify, insert or save.

Find all available rules properties in this table:

Rules property	Description	Example
count	Use this rule together with the jsonPath or xPath properties. Whenever there are multiple elements within a message with a specific path, API simulation verifies that the number of elements in a message corresponds to the defined value.	5
dataType	Specifies the data type of the value property. Use the data types Boolean, Date, Numeric, Password, or String.	String
exists	Indicates whether the element you want to verify exists or not. Set the value to True if it exists or to False if it doesn't.	True
file	Specifies the path, file name, and file extension where the payload or other message property values are saved.	/path/to/file.txt
index	If an element occurs more than once, define an index to determine which element to use. Let's say there are 2 headers with the same name and you want to use the second one. The index should be 2.	2
jsonPath	Use this property to find an element in a message that is in JSON format. Enter the path to the element. Define the value of the element via the property value.	x.store.book[0].title
key	Use this property to find specific message elements. Enter the name of the element. Define the type of the message element with the type property. If you want to insert the key, you also need to add and define the value property.	myHeader
name	Defines the name of the rule property.	myBuffer
operator	Use this property to find specific property value ranges, such as 'greater than' or 'less than'. Possible operators are Equal, NotEqual, Less, LessOrEqual, Greater, GreaterOrEqual, or In.	Greater
property	References a connection or message property to specify a rule. For instance Endpoint, Path, or Queue.	Endpoint
range	Specify this property to use a specific part of a value. We use the C# range operator specification. You define a range by 2 index operands. Each of the two operands can be omitted. For the calculations, counting starts at 0. The left index is inclusive and the right index is exclusive: <Index>..<Index> defines the range from a specific character to a specific character. ..<Index> defines the range from the first character to a specific character. <Index>.. defines the range from a specific character to the last character. Use the hat (^) operator in addition to the index to take the index from the end. For instance, ..^4 takes all characters up to the last 4 characters or ^4.. starts after the last 4 characters and ends with the last character.	Example text ..3 gives Exa 3..^3 gives mple t ^3.. gives ext
type	Specifies which part of a message to steer. Possible types are Header, MessagingProperty, Query, Path, or Multipart. For all types except Path, add the key property to find these specific message elements.	Header
uri	Defines the URI, or a part of it, that you want to use as the value for a rule.	/wait/for/me
value	Defines the value of a rule property. This can be any text or a Boolean value.	myValue
xPath	Use this property to find an element in a message that is in XPath format. Enter the path to the element. Define the value of the element via the property value.	/bookstore/book[price>35]/price

Example

This is an example of how you can insert a value value:

The inbound step property trigger waits for a message with a path property containing any value. If an incoming message meets this condition, API simulation sends a response.
The outbound step property insert writes the value Hello world! to the payload of a service.

Copy

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schema: SimV1
name: default

services:
- name: Service01
  steps:
  - direction: In
    trigger:
    - uri: '*'   
  - direction: Out
    insert:
    - value: 'Hello world!'