My problem boils down to finding matching entries in parallel arrays.
Here is a rule that succesfully does just that:
rule "Find matching entry in parallel arrays"
when
$first : ArrayList( )
$second : ArrayList( this != $first )
$i : Integer( this < $first.size )
eval( $first.get($i) == $second.get($i) )
then
System.out.println ( "Found match at index " + $i + "!" );
end
To execute this rule, I must insert (assert) the two ArrayList facts as well as at least as many Integer facts as there are items in the ArrayLists.
What I don't like about this rule is that
(1) I have to assert the Integers
(2) I can't support arbitrarily-sized lists in my rules (without asserting that many Integer facts)
So -- Is there a better way?
What if a future version of Drools supported implicit Number facts that allowed for these kinds of indexing rules?
Aaron