Error Code: UNDEFINED

This guide explains why an undefined error may occur and describes how to fix it.

In Rel, a variable is undefined if there’s no lexically enclosing declaration. Undefined errors occur mostly when:

• An expression contains an undefined variable.
• An expression refers to a relation that hasn’t been defined. Referring to relations within modules requires attention.

An Undefined Variable

A variable v that occurs in an expression is defined when:

1. The expression is in the body of a definition, and v occurs in the head of the definition.
2. A binding in a relational abstraction defines v.
3. v is bound by a universal or existential quantifier.
4. v is existentially bound by from.

For example, the following will result in UNDEFINED errors:

def P = 1; 3; 5
def R(x) { x = y - 1 and P(y) } 
 
def output = R

The most common way to fix the problem is to introduce the fourth case listed above:

// read query
 
def P = 1; 3; 5
def R(x) { x = y - 1 and P(y) from y } 
 
def output = R

You could also use the third case, that is, explicit existential quantification, for example like this:

// read query
 
def P = 1; 3; 5
def R(x) { exists(y in P : x = y - 1) } 
 
def output = R

The first case is also easy to introduce, but this will affect the arity of R:

// read query
 
def P = 1; 3; 5
def R(x, y) { x = y - 1 and P(y) } 
 
def output = R

An Undefined Relation

Consider the following example that returns an undefined error:

def zoes_friends = friends["Zoe"] 

In the query above, the relation zoes_friends defines Zoe’s friends. However, the relation friends hasn’t been previously defined.

Here’s one way to write the example correctly:

// read query
 
def friends = {("Mike", "Anna"); ("Zoe", "Jenn")}
def zoes_friends = friends["Zoe"]
def output = zoes_friends

This returns Zoe’s friends list.

It’s also possible that you’ve already defined the relation friends but the compiler isn’t able to find it. For instance, suppose you define the relation within a module:

module friends_mod
    def friends = {("Mike", "Anna"); ("Zoe", "Jenn")}
end

If you then query zoes_friends as in the first example, the output still returns this error. You can think of Rel modules as nested relations. In the example above, the relation friends is nested inside friends_mod and available as friends_mod[:friends], equivalent to friends_mod:friends.

Therefore, a valid definition of zoes_friends could be:

def zoes_friends = friends_mod:friends["Zoe"]

Similarly, say while installing some logic as a model, you refer to relations that you haven’t defined yet, but that you plan to define later in a different model or query. This returns an undefined error:

In this case, you can ignore the error as long as you provide the definition later. See Working With Models for more details.