Node:User-Defined Constraints, Previous:Combinatorial Constraints, Up:Available Constraints



User-Defined Constraints

New, primitive constraints can be added defined by the user on two different levels. On a higher level, constraints can be defined using the global constraint programming interface; see Defining Global Constraints. Such constraints can embody specialized algorithms and use the full power of Prolog. They cannot be reified.

On a lower level, new primitive constraints can be defined with indexicals. In this case, they take part in the basic constraint solving algorithm and express custom designed rules for special cases of the overall local propagation scheme. Such constraints are called FD predicates; see Defining Primitive Constraints. They can optionally be reified.