Functions

Use functions when you are concatenating strings, formatting strings, counting records in a collection, and setting default values on a control. All functions begin with $_.

Supported functions include:

Function
`$_concat(param1, ...) : string`	Converts and concatenates all parameters to a single string: $_concat("StartDate: ", $LeaveRequests.StartDate, " - EndDate: ", $LeaveRequests.EndDate) You must provide at least one parameter. If you provide only one parameter, it is converted to a string and returned by the function.
`$_now() : date`	Returns the current date and time as dateTime.
`$_format.date(date value, format option) : string`	Returns the formatted string of a date value. Parameters include: date value – date typed value. format option – valid values are: short, medium, long Examples: //returns for example "1 January 2012" if the date is 2012-01-01 and format option is long $_format.date($LeaveRequests.StartDate, long) //returns for example "1 Jan 2012" if the date is 2012-01-01 and format option is medium $_format.date($LeaveReuqests.StarDate, medium) The phone's region setting is used to format the date.
`$_format.datetime(date value, format option) : string`	Returns the formatted string of a date and time value and supports these parameters: date value – date typed value. format option – valid values are: short, medium, long. Example: //long format of today's date and time, result: "1 January 2012 11:55" $_format.datetime($_now(), long) The phone's region setting is used to format the date and time
`$_date(year, month, day) : date`	Creates a date typed value from parameters and supports these parameters: year – year value as int or float. month – month value as int or float. day – day value as int or float. Example: //returns "Since 1 January 2012" (UK locale was set on the phone) $_concat("Since", $_format.date($_date($_year($_now(), 1, 1)), long))
`$_count(binding_id) : int`	Returns the number of entries in a collection: //returns Leave Requests (6) $_concat("Leave Requests (", $_count($LeaveRequests), ")")
`$_isNull(value) : int`	Checks whether the parameter is a null value or nonexistent. Returns false or true.
`$_isNotNull(value) : int`	Checks whether the parameter value is null. Returns true if the parameter value is not a null value, or false otherwise.
`$_isEmpty(value) : int`	The function returns true if: Its parameter is a null value. The referred variable or data field of a BO in its parameter does not exist. The referred variable or data field of a BO exists, but its value is either an empty string ('') or an NSData instance with zero length. Otherwise, this function returns false.
`$_isNotEmpty(value) : int`	Returns true for values for which $_isEmpty returns false.
`$_isExisting(value) : int`	The function returns true if its parameter refers to an existing variable or data field of a BO; false otherwise. The function also returns true when the referred variable or data field of a BO is null, or empty string, because the parameter refers to an existing object.
`$_isNotExisting(value) : int`	Returns true for values for which `$_isExisting` returns false).
`$_year(date value) : int`	Returns the year as an int from a date value: //Returns the current year $_year($_now())