13.26. The Conditional Element Collect

The Conditional Element collect allows rules to reason over a collection of objects obtained from the given source or from the working memory. In First Oder Logic terms this is the cardinality quantifier.

The result pattern of collect can be any concrete class that implements the java.util.Collection interface and provides a default no-arg public constructor. You can use Java collections like ArrayList, LinkedList and HashSet or your own class, as long as it implements the java.util.Collection interface and provide a default no-arg public constructor.

Variables bound before the collect CE are in the scope of both source and result patterns and therefore you can use them to constrain both your source and result patterns. Any binding made inside collect is not available for use outside of it.