Table Source Examples

This page configures the same decision table with each Table Source. The examples select a shipping service from an order total:

Order total	Shipping service	Shipping cost
>= 100	free	0
< 100	standard	10
No match	review	null

Use this input item to try any example:

{
  "orderId": "A-1001",
  "orderTotal": 125
}

Keep No Match Behavior set to Use Default Output and Output Mode set to Merge Into Item. The resulting item is:

{
  "orderId": "A-1001",
  "orderTotal": 125,
  "shippingService": "free",
  "shippingCost": 0
}

Build Manually

Set the node properties as follows:

Property	Value
Table Source	Build Manually
Decision ID	shippingDecision
Table Version	1.0
Hit Policy	FIRST

Add one Input:

Name	Type	Value
orderTotal	Number	Empty

Leaving Value empty reads orderTotal from each input item's top-level JSON.

Add two Outputs:

Name	Type
shippingService	String
shippingCost	Number

Add these Rules in order:

Description	Input name	Expression	Output name	Value	Output name	Value
Free shipping for large orders	orderTotal	>= 100	shippingService	free	shippingCost	0
Standard shipping	orderTotal	< 100	shippingService	standard	shippingCost	10

Add these Default Output Entries:

Output name	Value
shippingService	review
shippingCost	null

Each rule needs both output entries. The output values free, standard, and review can be bare text because shippingService is declared as a string.

JSON

Set Table Source to JSON and paste the following into Table JSON:

{
  "decisionId": "shippingDecision",
  "version": "1.0",
  "hitPolicy": "FIRST",
  "inputs": [
    {
      "name": "orderTotal",
      "type": "number"
    }
  ],
  "outputs": [
    {
      "name": "shippingService",
      "type": "string"
    },
    {
      "name": "shippingCost",
      "type": "number"
    }
  ],
  "rules": [
    {
      "description": "Free shipping for large orders",
      "inputEntries": [
        {
          "inputName": "orderTotal",
          "expression": ">= 100"
        }
      ],
      "outputEntries": [
        {
          "outputName": "shippingService",
          "value": "free"
        },
        {
          "outputName": "shippingCost",
          "value": "0"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "description": "Standard shipping",
      "inputEntries": [
        {
          "inputName": "orderTotal",
          "expression": "< 100"
        }
      ],
      "outputEntries": [
        {
          "outputName": "shippingService",
          "value": "standard"
        },
        {
          "outputName": "shippingCost",
          "value": "10"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "defaultOutput": {
    "shippingService": "review",
    "shippingCost": null
  }
}

Leave Default Output (JSON) as {} to use the embedded defaultOutput. A non-empty value in that node property overrides the embedded value.

DMN XML

Set Table Source to DMN XML, set Decision ID to shippingDecision, set Table Version to 1.0, and paste the following into DMN XML:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<definitions
  xmlns="https://www.omg.org/spec/DMN/20191111/MODEL/"
  id="shippingDefinitions"
  name="Shipping decisions"
  namespace="https://example.gov.bc.ca/dmn/shipping"
>
  <decision id="shippingDecision" name="Shipping Decision">
    <decisionTable id="shippingDecisionTable" hitPolicy="FIRST">
      <input id="input_order_total" label="Order total">
        <inputExpression id="expression_order_total" typeRef="number">
          <text>orderTotal</text>
        </inputExpression>
      </input>
      <output
        id="output_shipping_service"
        label="Shipping service"
        name="shippingService"
        typeRef="string"
      />
      <output
        id="output_shipping_cost"
        label="Shipping cost"
        name="shippingCost"
        typeRef="number"
      />
      <rule id="rule_free_shipping">
        <description>Free shipping for large orders</description>
        <inputEntry id="input_entry_free">
          <text>&gt;= 100</text>
        </inputEntry>
        <outputEntry id="service_entry_free">
          <text>free</text>
        </outputEntry>
        <outputEntry id="cost_entry_free">
          <text>0</text>
        </outputEntry>
      </rule>
      <rule id="rule_standard_shipping">
        <description>Standard shipping</description>
        <inputEntry id="input_entry_standard">
          <text>&lt; 100</text>
        </inputEntry>
        <outputEntry id="service_entry_standard">
          <text>standard</text>
        </outputEntry>
        <outputEntry id="cost_entry_standard">
          <text>10</text>
        </outputEntry>
      </rule>
    </decisionTable>
  </decision>
</definitions>

DMN XML import does not read default output entries, so set Default Output (JSON) separately:

{
  "shippingService": "review",
  "shippingCost": null
}

The node selects a decision by matching Decision ID against the XML decision's id or name. If Decision ID is empty, it imports the first decision. Rule cells are positional in XML, so every rule must contain one inputEntry per input and one outputEntry per output.

Reading Previous-Node Values

By default an input name is both the rule reference and the top-level item.json key. Change only the input declaration to read nested data; rules keep using the same name.

For a previous-node item like:

{
  "orderId": "A-1001",
  "order": {
    "total": 125
  }
}

Table Source	Change this	Example
Build Manually	Input Value to {{ $json.order.total }}	Name stays orderTotal
JSON	Add "expression": "order.total" to the input	Rules still use "inputName": "orderTotal"
DMN XML	Set <text>order.total</text> in the input expression	Imported expression reads item.json.order.total

JSON declaration for the nested case:

{
  "name": "orderTotal",
  "type": "number",
  "expression": "order.total"
}

To read from another node, use {{ $('Get Order').item.json.order.total }} as the manual Value. Manual Value resolves separately for each item; falsy-but-set values such as 0 and false still apply.

Use JSON value only for static constants. It takes precedence over expression and item lookup:

{
  "name": "programYear",
  "type": "string",
  "value": "2026-27"
}

Do not put per-item {{ $json... }} inside Table JSON value. The JSON table resolves once from the first item, so that value freezes for the whole batch. For per-item data use manual Input Value, or reshape upstream with a Set/Code node.

Try Other Inputs

Input orderTotal	Expected decision output
125	{ "shippingService": "free", "shippingCost": 0 }
75	{ "shippingService": "standard", "shippingCost": 10 }
"not available"	{ "shippingService": "review", "shippingCost": null }

For more expression forms, hit policies, and output modes, see the DMN Decision Table overview and node operations.