Independent and dependent price rules

A price rule can be either independent or dependent. An independent price rule contains a price list. A dependent price rule does not contain a price list. Dependent price rules cannot output prices, so you cannot use them as contract-level price rules.

When you create or edit a price rule, WebSphere Commerce determines whether the price rule is independent or dependent by checking whether the price rule contains a price list. When you view a list of price rules, the Dependency column indicates whether the price rule is independent or dependent, as shown on the right in the following example:

The following table provides additional details about independent and dependent price rules:

Dependency type	Definition	When to use
Independent	A price rule that contains a price list, specified in any of these actions in the price rule flow: A Get Price from Price List action A Calculate Price action, if it uses a price equation that contains a price list and the output price is a monetary amount. An Apply Nested Price Rule action that uses an independent price rule.	No restrictions
Dependent	A price rule that does not contain a price list and therefore cannot output a price. Here is an example:	Dependent price rules are typically nested in other price rules using the Apply Nested Price Rule action. Dependent price rules cannot be used for contract-level price rules. When you view the list of available price rules to assign to a contract in WebSphere Commerce Accelerator, the list contains only independent price rules.