Working with the Dynamic Template Designer > Dynamic Template Field Configuration
  
Version 10.1.01
Dynamic Template Field Configuration
Prerequisite: Add Fields and Methods to a Dynamic Template.
Once fields have been added to a report template, a number of special treatments can be configured to customize the way the data will be represented in a report.
Field Label
Type: Display as Table
Type: Display as Area
Type: Display as Bar Chart
Type: Display as Pie/Donut Chart
Formatter
Formatter Pattern
Alignment
Wrap
Total/Subtotal
Column Break
Drill Down to
Drilldown Condition
Style
Group by Date
Time Period Date
Graphics Tool Tip
Comma-delimited ID Name Formatter
Tool Tip
1. Double-click a selected field to access the Field Configuration window.
This Field Configuration window presents lists of values that can be selected to configure formatting. Only values relevant for the selected field will be listed and some options may be grayed out if they are not relevant to the selected field.
Label
Description
Field Label
Field Labels in Tables
This is the text that will be displayed as a field label or a table column header in a tabular report. To replace the default caption with one customized for your reports, simply overwrite the default text.
Field Labels in Charts
The caption field becomes the x-axis label. For Line Charts, the label can be any object, such as a master server. When charting performance metrics for an object, a date field should be configured as a label. See Line Charts for Performance Metrics.
Type:
Display as Table
When the report template has the “Display as” component set to Table, the following Type options are available.
Hidden - Use this option when configuring a drilldown to another report template. The field will not be displayed in the report, but is required to access the necessary details to link to the sub-report template. There will be cases where the UI will automatically add hidden fields to the report template, to ensure satisfactory performance.
Column - Lists a column of values in a tabular report.
Checkbox - Include/exclude selectors to be displayed in a column in a tabular report.
Exclude - There will be cases when a field will be needed only for filtering purposes and you do not want this field to be included in the selected fields for the report.
Type:
Display as Bar Chart
When the report template has the “Display as” component set to Bar Chart, the following Type options are available. See also Configure a Bar Chart Dynamic Template, Steps to Create a Bar Chart Dynamic Template, and Examples of Bar Chart Dynamic Templates.
Caption - Define this field to be the x-axis values.
Bar - Configure the field to be represented as a bar and set its color.
Line - Configure the field to be represented as a line and select the shape to denote its value in the line: rectangle, circle, diamond, or none.
% Line - Configure the field to be represented as a % line and select the shape to denote its value in the line: rectangle, circle, diamond, or none.
Legend - Define the labels and colors to be displayed in the bar chart’s legend. See Configure a Bar Chart Dynamic Template to determine if you should use a dynamic or static bar chart type.
Hidden - Use this option when configuring a drilldown to another report template. The field will not be displayed in the report, but is required to access the necessary details to link to the sub-report. There will be cases where the UI will automatically add hidden fields to the report template, to ensure satisfactory performance.
% Bar - Define the field to be a % bar in the chart.
Exclude - There will be cases when a field will be needed only for filtering purposes and you do not want this field to be included in the selected fields for the template.
Type:
Display as Line Chart
When the report template has the “Display as” component set to Line Chart, the following Type options are available. See also Steps to Create a Line Chart Dynamic Template, Line Charts for Performance Metrics, and Examples of Line Chart Dynamic Templates.
Caption Field - This required field type supplies the category caption for the x-axis. Typically, a date field becomes the caption because line chart data is best represented over a time line. When you configure a date field as a caption, the field configuration automatically sets Group By Date to Yes. See also, Line Chart: Caption Field and Format Line Chart Fields.
Line Field - A numeric field can be configured as a line. One or more line fields can be included in a line chart report template. Select Line for the field type. See also, Line Chart: Line Field.
In a “multiple objects per chart” scenario, a line represents a specific object, for example, an array. Line colors do
not apply in this case. Colors will be determined dynamically by the system, since the number of objects represented by the lines is unknown until run time. See Multiple Objects Per Line Chart, One Metric Per Chart.
In a “one object per chart” scenario, a line represents a metric for that object; for example, both used and available capacity could be lines in each array chart. See
One Object Per Line Chart, One or More Metrics Per Chart.
Group by Object - See Line Chart: Group by Object Field.
Hidden - See Line Chart: Hidden Field.
Exclude - There will be cases when a field will be needed only for filtering purposes and you do not want this field to be included in the selected fields for the report template. For example, to filter on failed and partial backup jobs, you would drag in the job status field, make it an Exclude field type, and Configure a Static Filter.
Note: Use the Add Group option to create folders when you need to group data fields that have disparate units of measure. This Group functionality is used in tabular reports to create spanning headers, but for line charts, it renders separate charts. For example, you might have a capacity value in KiB, but a performance value in Kbps. This requires two charts with different metric scales to plot the values. See Add a Group to Create Separate Line Charts in a Report.
Type:
Display as Area
When the report template has the “Display as” component set to Area/Stacked Area Chart, the following Type options are available. See also Configure an Area/Stacked Area Chart Dynamic Template.
Caption - Define this field to be the x-axis values.
Area - Configure the field to be represented as an area and set its color.
Legend - Define the labels and colors to be displayed in the area/stacked area chart’s legend.
Hidden - Use this option when configuring a drilldown to another report template. The field will not be displayed in the report, but is required to access the necessary details to link to the sub-report. There will be cases where the UI will automatically add hidden fields to the report template, to ensure satisfactory performance.
Exclude - There will be cases when a field will be needed only for filtering purposes and you do not want this field to be included in the selected fields for the template.
Type:
Display as Pie/Donut Chart
When the report template has the “Display as” component set to Pie Chart or Donut Chart, the following Type options are available. See also, Examples of Pie Chart Dynamic Templates and Example of a Donut Chart Dynamic Template.
Caption - Enter the caption associated with the pie/donut sector.
Sector - Configure the field to be a pie or donut sector and set its color.
Hidden - Use this option when configuring a drilldown to another report template. The field will not be displayed in the report, but is required to access the necessary details to link to the sub-report template. There will be cases where the UI will automatically add hidden fields to the report template, to ensure satisfactory performance.
Exclude - There may be cases when a field is needed only for filtering purposes and you do not want this field to be included in the selected fields for the report template.
Formatter
The formatter list includes only values relevant for the field. For example, numeric fields have only numeric formatters listed, such as Number, Currency, and File Size. Valid formatters include: Date, Date + TimeZone, Date Group By, Numeric, Decimal, Speed, Currency, File Size, Time Duration, Char Substitute, Unit Converter, File Size No Label, Null Substitute, Time Elapsed, Cron Schedule, Yes/No, Percentage, Status Icon, Full Name, Area Sparkline, and Column Sparkline.
Formatter Pattern
Enter a specific pattern for the formatter to customize the default format. Example: KiB::GB or KB::_
Alignment
The default value provides the most common usage. For example, numeric values typically should be right-aligned so that decimal points line up.
Wrap
Select Yes if you want long values/text to wrap in the space provided in the report. When No is selected, the data will extend horizontally.
Total/Subtotal
Total/Subtotal Options: Null, Sum, Average, Minimum, Maximum.
Use this configuration to aggregate the values, such as all the backup job sizes for a backup server. In its simplest form, this aggregation is used to display grand totals for all the data displayed in a tabular report.
To enable subtotals for a set of fields:
Configure Total/Subtotal with a Null value and set Column Break to Yes for one or more fields in the report template.
Once you configure a subtotal, you can no longer create grand total rows at the end of the tabular report template.
* Never configure Total/Subtotal and Column Break = Yes for the same field.
Column Break
Column Break for Tabular Report Templates
Select Yes if you want to list subtotals at the end of a group of related fields. Note that when you use subtotals, the sort order is automatically determined. All fields with a Column Break selection are sorted in the relevant ascending order and this sort order cannot be changed. Be sure not to remove or modify this sort order.
Example: You could create a tabular report for client, server, and kilobytes. Then, you could subtotal on server to aggregate the kilobytes per server.
* Never configure Total/Subtotal and Column Break = Yes for the same field.
* Once you configure a subtotal, you can no longer create grand total rows at the end of the tabular report template.
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Column Break for Line Chart Report Templates
For line charts, the column break is required if the selected object is potentially not unique. To ensure uniqueness, you may need to include a unique ID field with the Column Break set to Yes. For example, an array name may not be unique, however, the array ID is sure to be unique. Include both the name and ID in the template, but make the ID a hidden field with the Column Break set to Yes. See also, Field Configuration for One Object Per Line Chart.
Drill Down to
Select the report to which this field will link. This takes you to the Drilldown Configuration window. See Dynamic Template Drilldown Configuration.
For a list of out-of-the-box report templates that have drilldowns that you can use as examples, see Examples of Dynamic Templates Containing Drilldowns.
Drilldown Condition
A drilldown condition lets you control cases where a drilldown doesn’t make sense to be displayed, for example, null or 0 values for a field. For example, you wouldn’t want to drill down on a Job ID for a row if the value of Job ID returned from the database is Null or 0 (zero).
Example: ${row['B'] != '0'}
where B is the alias name
In this example, the drilldown link will appear only when the returned value is not zero.
Example: Configure a drilldown on field D and enter a drilldown condition as shown in the following example. In this example, if the row where the value of the field aliased as A is NULL, the value in column D will not have a drilldown URL enabled.
${row[‘A’] != ''}
Example: Multiple conditions can be configured.
${row[‘C'] != '' && row['E'] == ''}
Style
Use this option to configure the background color of a cell in a tabular report.
Example:
${row['C'].data == 'Partial' ? 'yellowBackground' : row['C'].data == 'Failed' ? 'redBackground' : '' }
where C is the alias of the selected field.
Group by Date
This is applicable only for Date fields in Bar, Line, and Pie Chart report templates to aggregate data for charting. If only one date field is specified, it is used as the default for the Group By Date configuration.
If you configure a date field as a caption, Group by Date is automatically set to Yes. If there are multiple date fields in a template, you must choose only one for this setting.
This Group by Date setting identifies the field that the scope selector will use with the Group By scope component. When this Group by Date element is set to Yes, the Group By component in the Scope Selector is automatically selected.
Time Period Date
Use the Time Period Date selection in report templates to designate which date field will be used for the Time Period scope. If only one date field is included in the template, that field is used as the default. If more than one date field is defined in a template, only one date field can have this Time Period Date set to Yes.
The Time Period Date must be set to Yes for one of the date fields in the template when a Time Period, but no Group By is selected in the scope selector. This configuration enables grouping of raw, non-aggregated data.
Time Period Date can be set for displayed, hidden, or excluded date fields.
Currently, this option is available only for storage arrays and objects created via the SDK.
Graphics Tool Tip
Enter a description to be displayed when a user hovers the mouse over an image in a report; for example, use this setting to enable mouse-overs on lines in bar charts, lines in line charts, and even images in table columns.
Example: Available: ${row['Q1']}
where Q1 is the alias name.
Comma-delimited ID Name Formatter
For text fields only. Use this option if data returned for a field has multiple values that need to be separated by commas. Only the names will be shown in the rendered report and the IDs will be used for drilldowns, if drilldowns are configured.
Tool Tip
This is the description supplied by the Data Dictionary for this field. You can overwrite or supplement this text. This description will be displayed when a user hovers the mouse over the field or table column label in a report. It will also be incorporated into the context-sensitive help that is displayed from the Help button. See Quick Start Step 6: Generate a Report and View the Automatically Generated Help.
Next Step: Dynamic Template Drilldown Configuration
Valid Formatter Patterns
In the Field Configuration window, the Formatter selector requires additional details provided in the Formatter Pattern box. Note that only Formatters relevant to the selected report template field will be made available for selection.
Use the following table to determine valid formatting patterns.
Formatter Name
Data Type
Valid Patterns
Description
Date
Date
N/A
Date formats are derived from the user's profile.
Date+TimeZone
Date
N/A
Date formats are derived from the user's profile.
Date Group By
Date
N/A
Used in charts and graphs to format the legend, based on the “group by” that is selected in the scope selector at run time. This formatter determines the optimum date format for that group by.
Time Elapsed
Number
(SEC)|(MIN)|(HR)|(DAY)
Displays time in a more readable format, converting minutes to hours, where relevant. For example, 120 min would be displayed as 2 hrs.
Time Duration
Number
N/A
Formats a time value that is in milliseconds to the following format: hh:mm:ss
Applicable only for fields that denote time duration; for example: finish_date minus start_date
Cron Schedule
Number
Varchar2
N/A
Presents a standard cron expression in a user-readable form.
For example, */30**** will display as “Every 30 minutes.”
Numeric
Number
N/A
Format derived from the user’s profile.
Decimal
Number
% converts to % format
Otherwise, leave as null.
Formats the value with the number of decimal places specified in the user’s profile; can also be used for percentages.
Speed
Number
N/A
Formats speed values. N/A if speed = 0.
Currency
Number
N/A
Format derived from the user’s profile.
File Size
Number
(KiB)|(MiB)|(GiB) is the input data type
Formats the file size unit of measure to what is most applicable to the selected field value. For example, 2048 MB would become 2 GB
File Size No Label
Number
Units::Units
For APTARE StorageConsole Backup Manager only. Formats the file size to the most relevant unit of measure, but omits the unit label. Applicable for byte size data.
Unit Converter
Number
KB::TB
KB::_ (for dynamic output)
Determines the value to be used when converting from one unit to another, for example, from KB to GB. The “division by” value is determined from the user’s profile settings, either 1000 or 1024.
Note that for line charts, if you select Unit Converter for a line, it only formats the mouse-over, not the Y-axis label.
Char Substitute
Number
Varchar2
Date
<value_to_replace>::<replacement_value>
Replaces specified characters in a string value. For example, if the database returns "Host1, Host2" this formatter would be replaced the "," with "<br/>"
Null Substitute
Number
Varchar2
Date
<string>
Replaces null values with a user-supplied string.
Percentage
Number
number1:number2:number3
Data values from 0 to number1 will render Green color in the percentage bar. Values between number1 and number2 will render Yellow color and values between number2 and 100 will render Red color. The values number1 and number2 should always be between 0 and 100. The number3 parameter determines the size of the % bar in pixels.
Display a % bar (thermometer) in a chart.
Full Name
Number
N/A
For File Analytics only. Converts a shortcut name to a full name for NetApp, CIFS, and WinFS.
Yes/No
Varchar2
N/A
Translates Y/N to Yes/No.
Status Icon
Varchar2
Number
Example:
0|Green,2|Red,1|Yellow,*|White
If the value = 0, the circle icon will render in green.
Displays status icons depending on the data, which could render in red, yellow, blue, green and white.
Truncate
Varchar
Number
Truncates a string with ellipsis. The maximum size of the string is 28 characters. Use the pattern to override the maximum size. When using the Truncate formatter, it is recommended to complete the Tool Tip field.
Examples of Dynamic Templates Containing Graphics Tool Tips
The best way to learn how to configure graphics tool tips in a report template is to learn by example.
The following list includes a sampling of the out-of-the-box reports that are shipped with the product, along with a few examples of the relevant information to help you isolate an example of the functionality that you are trying to implement.
To help you identify a field in the template that contains this functionality, the following convention is used in the list of report templates.
Product:Alias combines the values listed in the template. In the following example, the selected Product is All, while the selected Alias is F.
Some templates are vendor product-specific, in which case you may have a Product:Alias such as EMC Avamar:A
 
Report Template
Report Type
Product: Alias
Caption
Field Type
Backup Manager Reports
Job Status Summary
Bar
All: T
Failure
Bar
 
 
All: R
Success
Bar
 
 
All: S
Warning
Bar
Job Summary
Table
EMC Avamar: M
Error Code
Column
 
 
All: K
Exit Code
Column
 
 
Veritas NetBackup: P
Exit Code
Column
Job Volume Summary
Bar
All: D
# of Files Backed Up or Restored
Line
 
 
All: B
# of Jobs
Hidden
 
 
All: C
Backup/Restore Volume
Bar
Job Duration
Bar
All: F
Job Duration
Bar
Capacity Manager Reports
Array Executive Summary
Table
All: J
Used
Column
NetApp Aggregate Summary
Table
NetApp: R
Usage
Column
NetApp Volume Summary
Table
NetApp: K
Usage
Column
NetApp Cluster-Mode Summary
Table
NetApp Cluster-Mode: H1
Usage
Column
Hitachi DP Pool Summary
Table
Hitachi Data Systems: H
Used
Column
EMC VNX (Celerra) Storage Pools Summary
Table
EMC VNX (Celerra): C1
Used
Column
EMC VNX (Celerra) Volume Summary
Table
EMC VNX (Celerra): B1
Usage
Column
Hitachi NAS Storage Pool Summary
Table
Hitachi NAS: P
Usage
Column
EMC Isilon CPU Performance by Cluster
Line
EMC Isilon: B
Max CPU %
Line
EMC Isilon CPU Performance by Node
Line
EMC Isilon: G
Avg CPU %
Line
NetApp Cluster-Mode Disk Performance by Cluster
Line
NetApp Cluster-Mode: C
Disk Busy %
Line