creating a simple rule engine in java

Question

I am exploring different ways to create a simple business rule engine in Java. I need to present the client with a simple webapp that lets him configure a bunch of rules. A

Answer 1

I would suggest using something like Drools. Creating your own custom solution would be an overkill because you would have to debug it, and still provide functionality certainly less than the one provided by a rule engine like Drools. I understand that Drools has a learning curve, but I would not compare it with creating a custom language, or a custom solution...

In my opinion, in order for a user to write rules, he/she would have to learn something. While I suppose you could provide for a language simpler than the drools rule language, you would never capture all of his/her needs. Drools rule language would be simple enough for simple rules. Plus, you could provide him/her with a well formed documentation. If you plan to control the rules created by the end user and applied on the system, then perhaps it would be wiser to create a gui that would form the rules applied on drools.

Hope I helped!