Can a rules file have a dependency on other rules?

Question

I'm using drools rules engine for my new service. I'm looking at cleaning up the rules / making it easier to write. I was hoping to use a rules framework style of coding. I.e. I want a rules file who's sole purpose is to validate the input data (i.e. input list isn't null and contains a specific value). Then when I write new rules files I can just say import this and run the validation before all other rules.

Also, I know I can load multiple rules file into the KieSession. Is it possible to tell it which order to run the rules files in, or which files to skip for each use case? The idea behind this is for performance. Let's say I load up an AWS lambda function with the rules service, I want to have all rules loaded already and have it run the specific one for the use case, instead of loading up a rules file for each call.

Thanks for the help.

Answer 1

Yes, it is possible by using salience and assigning priorities to some rules so that they execute before other rules. Also, we can make use of inference engine to create facts which can make other rules eligible for execution.