Expression activity permits you to perform operations on data.

These can be single arithmetic operations, such as add, multiply, subtract, or string manipulation such as Trim, Uppercase, and Date functions such as add months, or get today's date.

For example, you can create an expression to display initials of a name. If the name of a customer is Abc Xyz, and you need to display the initials AX, the rule can be: Left(FirstName,1) + Left(Surname,1)

The value from this rule is held in an output (target) variable.

An expression node reduces the amount of custom .NET code or scripting needed by providing the most commonly used functions used for data manipulation.

You can set the value of one or more variables using free text, variables, operators, and functions.

See the following table for the variables supported and not supported by an Expression node.

See also:

• Configure an Expression activity

• Common activities