System Variables and their default values for fields

I find the below information pretty useful and hence thought of sharing the same.

Below are some of the system var which you can use to default any field value, later i have also mentioned the values at different Siebel version for the date variables as well.

System: Today

This value returns today's date. This value should be used when the field type is DTYPE_DATE. If the field type is DTYPE_DATETIME or DTYPE_UTCDATETIME, the field will be populated with today's date plus "12:00:00 AM".

System: Timestamp

This value returns today's date and the current time. This value should be used when the field type is DTYPE_DATETIME or

DTYPE_UTCDATETIME. If the field type is DTYPE_DATE, only the current date will be saved in the field; the time will not be saved.

Expr: 'Today()'

This expression is equivalent to the calculated expression "Today()" and will return the current date. It returns the same value as System: Today. It should be used with fields of type DTYPE_DATE; if used with fields of type DTYPE_DATETIME or DTYPE_UTCDATETIME, "12:00:00 AM" will be appended to the current date.

Expr: 'Today() - 1'

This example demonstrates how you can add or subtract days by adding or subtracting an integer. This example would result in the field being set to yesterday's date. If a floating point number is used in this expression, the fractional part will be ignored.

Expr: 'Timestamp()'

This expression is equivalent to the calculated expression "Timestamp()" and will return the current date and time. It returns the same value as System: Timestamp. This expression should be used for fields of type DTYPE_DATETIME or DTYPE_UTCDATETIME.

Field: 'FieldName'

This function will set the field to the value of another field in the same business component. You would substitute FieldName with the name of an actual date field that is defined in the same business component as the field being defaulted.

To minimize confusion, the field being defaulted and the referenced field should be the same field type. If the defaulted field is type DTYPE_DATE and the referenced field is DTYPE_DATETIME or DTYPE_UTCDATETIME, the time will be omitted from the defaulted field. If the defaulted field is DTYPE_DATETIME or DTYPE_UTCDATETIME and the referenced field is DTYPE_DATE, the string "12:00:00 AM" will be appended to the defaulted field.

If this function is used in the Pre Default Value property, do not reference a join field since the join field will not be populated when the record is first created.

This function is not intended to be used as part of a date calculation.

Parent: 'BusComp.Field', 'BusComp.Field'

This function will default the value based on a field value in a parent business component within the current business object. You can include more than one combination of buscomp and field, to offer several possible default values. The function will evaluate each 'BusComp.Field' construct from left to right until a value is found.

As with the Field: 'DateFieldName' function, it is best for the defaulted field and the referenced fields to be of the same field type. If they differ, the behavior of the field type combinations is the same as for the Field: 'DateFieldName' function.

Below is the Source of Current Date and Time for different Siebel versions :

Siebel Ver.	Client Type	Source of Current Date and Time
6.x & earlier	Dedicated or Mobile	User’s machine
6.x & earlier	Thin Client or .COM Application	Application server
7.0.x	Web Client	Application server
7.0.x	Dedicated or Mobile	User’s machine
7.5.x	Web Client	Application server
7.5.x	Dedicated or Mobile Client	User’s machine
7.7.x	Web Client	Application server; converted to time zone of the current user’s session
7.7.x	Dedicated or Mobile Client	User’s machine

In case you want a detailed information, check technote 539. Happy Exploring !!!