Conditional expression variables

Blog

March 25, 2026

Maximo conditional expressions use an SQL-like syntax allowing to replace the value of a specific attribute using the “:” notation.

For example, you can have an expression like this:

exists (select 1 from workorder where wonum=:wonum)

At run time, the second wonum is replaced with the value of the wonum attribute for the current record.

The value of an attribute of a related object can also be referenced using the following natation.

Variable	Description	Comments
:<relationshipname>.<attrname>	Value of an attribute of a related business object of the current business object.	:location.description
:&owner&.<attrname>	Value of an attribute of the owner business object.	When you apply a to a work order, the system copies the priority of the to the child work order. The condition can be `:&owner&.jobplan.priority>:&owner&.priority`. In this example, the system copies this information if the has a higher priority than the parent work order.
:&owner&.<relationship_name>.<attrname>	Value of an attribute of the related business object of the owner business object.
:&old_<attrname>	The initial value from the database of the attribute.	For example, you can change the value of a field 1 - 2 and then 2 - 3 and then 3 - 4. The original value is 1.

There are also some special variables that can be used.

Variable	Description	Comments
:yes	true	Logically true, 1 if stored in the database.
:no	false	Logically false, 0 if stored in the database.
:&date&	Current date
:&datetime&	Current date and time
:&user&	Logged in user	For example, if a user is logged in as Smith, :owner.id=&user& converts to :ownerid=‘SMITH’.
:&personid&	Person ID of logged in user	For example, if a user is logged in as Smith, :reportby=&personid& converts to :reportby=‘SMITH’.
:&appname&	Application name	For example, in the Work Order Tracking application, :&appname&=WOTRACK converts to WOTRACK=WOTRACK. This variable is useful for setting different behavior for different copies of an application.
:&mboname&	Name of the current MBO	For example, in the work order object, object=:&mboname& converts to object=WORKORDER.
:&ownername&	Name of the owner MBO	For example, in the Work Order Tracking application, :&ownername&.jobplan.priority>&ownername&.priority converts to workorder.jobplan.priority>workorder.priority.