[rules-users] Replacement for eval

Hi, I have two questions. 1) Is there any other way/method in Drools to test the truth value of a condition other than "eval"? In almost all rules of my application needs to test conditions, and it takes ages to run using "eval". 2) Say I have a java method which returns a boolean, and I have used it within an "eval" function. (eg: eval(message.emptyMessageFinder()) ) This "emptyMessageFinder()" method will return a "boolean" if there's an empty message. This function is containing many loops and recursive operations. Will I get a performance improvement if I alternate the above such that the "emptyMessageFinder()" method sets a boolean attribute (anyEmptyMessage) in the Message class to true and false, and I'm using following in my drl. when m: Message() m.emptyMessageFinder() eval(m.anyEmptyMessage) //can I use eval here?? ...... If someone can answer these questions it would be a great help! Thank you in advance! -- Best Regards, Nirmal C.S.Nirmal J. Fernando Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. Blog: http://nirmalfdo.blogspot.com/