Working with Advanced Configurations in Outcomes

Using JavaScript in an Export

To edit an export field expression, go to the export settings page and follow these steps:

1. Click the {} icon that appears when the mouse hovers over a field selected for your export.
   
   
2. Add your desired string function.
   
   
3. To test your new function, click Try It.
4. Use the Find an applicant record field to search for an applicant to test with.
   
   
5. Click on the desired applicant's name to run the test. On the right, the Output area indicates how your expression will affect the data in the impacted field.to kee
6. Click Update to keep your changes.

Example Scenario

Perhaps you are working with an enterprise solution or Student Information System that cannot import any email addresses containing uppercase characters. Since Outcomes allows capital letters in email addresses, you'll need to add a function that converts all characters to lowercase.

• The default expression when adding the email address to an export might be: applicant.emailAddress
• To convert the email address to lower case, we add the JavaScript toLowerCase() function to the string, making it: applicant.emailAddress.toLowerCase()
• This converts an email address value of TestEmail@me.com to testemail@me.com in the export file
  
  

Common String Manipulation Functions

The table above is just a sample of the dozens of string manipulation functions supported by JavaScript. Documentation for other useful JavaScript data manipulation functions can be found online. 

Working with Conditional Output

You may wish to export data based on some sort of logic. A simple example of this is:  If something is true, return one value, otherwise, return some other value. In this case, there are only two possible values, but with JavaScript you can make this conditional logic as complex as needed and involve as many of the applicant data model properties as needed.

Here are three common approaches when using JavaScript to conditionally alter the values of exported fields.

• Ternary Operator
  The “ternary” operator offers a quick way to return one value if one condition is true and a different value if false. The structure of this expression is:
  (logical test in parenthesis) ? {value to return if true} : {value to return if false}
  
  Here’s a sample that will return “Student or Faculty” only if the string “bu.edu” appears in an email address. Otherwise, “Non Academic” will be returned:(app.email.contains(“bu.edu”)) ? “Student or Faculty” : “Non Academic”
   
• If / Else Statement
  An If else conditional is similar to the ternary operator in that it offers a way to return one value if a condition is true and a different value if false. Sometimes it makes the logic easier to read if broken out over multiple lines, which is supported in the property expression editor. The structure looks like this:

  {
    if (condition) {
      return a value ;
    } else {
      return a different value ;
    }
  }
  
  Example using logic from above:
  {
    if (app.email.contains(“bu.edu”)) {
      return “Student or Faculty” ;
    } else {
      return “Non Academic”;
    }
  }
  
  You can also use this structure to check for nulls or empty values, as seen in this example:
  {
    if (applicant?.program) {
      return applicant.program;
    } else {
      return "No program listed";
    }
  }

• Switch (Case) Statement
  The switch conditional allows an expression to return values based on multiple cases. This goes beyond true and false like if/else and the ternary operator. Here’s the structure of a switch statement using an example of returning values based on the country code:

  {
    switch (applicant.address.countrycode) {
         case “US”:
      return “United States”;
      case “CA”:
      return “Canada”;
      default:
        return “Not US or Canada”;
    }
  }
  

As an alternative to switch statements, consider using translation tables for value mapping (like country codes or program names). This can be easier to maintain and doesn't require editing JavaScript.

Dealing with Null Values

In JavaScript, a Null is a special value that indicates the property has no value. For a string, this is different than an empty value in quotes. Numeric, string, and date type properties can all have null values. It is important to understand this because there are cases where unexpected results or errors can occur if a custom JavaScript expression tries to operate on a null where an actual value was expected.
 
For example, if the property applicant.email were null, this expression would cause an error: applicant.email.toLowerCase()

To guard against this, it’s helpful to know null values are interpreted as “false” in conditional expressions. So, using the ternary operator, this expression will avoid null type errors from occurring in export output: (applicant.email) ? applicant.email.toLowerCase() : “No email found”

Modifying Exports

Modifying Files Exports

Modifying How Data is Presented

Fields Not in Customizable Forms

Fields on a Review (Evaluation) Form

If the fields you need to work with are located on a review form:

1. Navigate to Phases in the Application Review section of the Settings menu.
2. Open the Phase that your form is associated with. Find the key at the top of the page. This is what you'll use to replace the phase name in the code.
3. Next, find the keys for your evaluation forms. To do this, go to Evaluation Forms in the Application Review section of the Settings menu.
4. Click the form you want to work with.
5. At the top of the page, you'll find the key for the form, and each question on the form has its key listed underneath it. You'll use these keys to replace the variables in the code for the form name and question name, respectively.
   
   

In the example above, the key for the form is committee_review and the keys for the questions are committee_decision and personal_statement_1.

Fields on an Applicant Form

If the fields you'll need to work with are located on an applicant form:

1. Navigate to Applicant Forms in the Application Setup section of the Settings Menu.
2. Locate the form and its fields there, as described in step 5 above.