Administrator Handbook

TOC

Creating an Active view

Introduction

Active Views are processes called Plug-in that could works in two ways.

In stand alone: They are opened with the Active View Editor or from the contextual menu or link within an Active view object. They are working and active only if they are opened. The Active View created by the Active View Box Plug-in behaves like that.

Attached to Directory Host object: The Active view is located under a host object in the directory like other Plug-in. The Active view can do polling on object status or SNMP OID even if they are not currently open in a window.

There are few ways for loading an Active View:

- From the Host contextual menu

- From the main menu

To create an Active View with the contextual menu, select one in the Directory and with its contextual menu select Insert task and  Active View. An active view uses the default IP address of this host everywhere in its configuration. But this constraint does not imply that the objects managed by this view are limited to this host. It is just an anchor point for this program.

By default we suggest that Active View like network Map or containing multiple objects of the directory are attached to the LoriotPro Host object.

Active View that represents a front or a rear panel of a device are attached to a Host object to one of its IP addresses. An answering  loop back address is a good choice.

Active View insertion

The contextual menu

When you have attached a View to a host, a single click will open the Active View window either in edit mode or process mode.

From the main menu, select a host or a container in the directory and from the main menu select New Active View option.

A dialog box is opened, asking you if you want to load a Template view. A template view is an existing active view that could be used for this Host. Template are visual representation of a router rear panel for example. If you do not know if a template exist choose NO.

If you choose to load from a template the following dialog box is displayed:

Select the tlp directory where the current templates are stored. Select the template in this directory.

Whatever you choose before, the Active View program asks you a name for this Active View. This name is displayed as the Plug-in Name in the Directory.

You can also specify here the size of the edition area and set the default IP address. The default IP address is used by the Active View to control the dynamic behaviour of objects.

After this step you should see the Active View Plug-in attached to your Host in the Directory tree with the right name. Do an Update Directory Tree from the contextual menu to refresh the tree.

Active View could be also created and launched without being linked to a host. In this case there are active only during the time they are opened.

To open the editor from the menu, select Tools option and Edit Active View option.

A dialog box asks you to enter the name of the Active View to edit. Select a name if you want to edit an existing Active View or cancel if you want to create a new Active View.

Active Views linked to host are saved in files located in the  /bin/config/active-view subdirectory.

Warning: If you use the same file for different loaded Active View a modification done to a view and saved will cause changes in the other at startup or will be discard if the directory is saved in the mean time. For this reason an Active View file should be associated for each host.

Active Views not linked to host could have any kind of name.

When you are in the Active View window, it is possible to open another view. Multiple Views could not be loaded in the same window thus opening a new view will close the old one. A question box appears asking you to save the current view before loading a new one.

Warning: When you load an Active View the preceding view is unloaded from memory and thus is not longer existing and active. If you want to call a view from another view, it is better to use the option of opening it in a new window.

Saving view

Active View attached to a directory object are loaded in memory at LoriotPro startup. Their configuration are read from the associated file name located in the /bin/Config/ActiveView directory. The file name of an Active View is displayed in the Active View  Menu, Edit->Active View Options.

When your work is finished you can save the view. The option Save simply saves the Active View under the same name. If it is a new Active View, you will have to enter its name.

The Save As option of the menu option File allows you to save an existing Active View under a new name.

The Save As Default Directory View save the current Active View under a new name and attach this name to the Directory Active View object.

There are two modes for an Active View.

The Edit Mode allows the user to create and modify the visual aspect and the dynamic aspect of a view. By default this view is not active (The polling threads are not started). It is thus possible to start the polling from the menu option file.

The Process Mode is used to supervise. Object could not be moved, suppressed etc. In this mode two processes (threads) work in parallel to perform the polling and to update the visual aspect of the drawing by changing colors of the objects.

The status bar at the bottom of the screen displays the current work of these two processes (thread). The following strategy is applied: first all active objects in the view are polled, this is the job of the thread number 2. If an object is not responding to the polling, the thread number 1 take over the polling for it. If the object starts the answer again it is reinserted in the polling list of the thread number 2.   

To swap between the process mode and edit mode, select the option Swap edit/process form the menu option edit.

The size of the drawing is defined in the Active View Options dialog box. Open it from the menu option Active View options.

The following dialog box is displayed:

Select the size of the view in pixels. Regarding the resolution of your screen you will be able to see your view in full screen.

The Active View has a name that could be changed in the menu option Edit and  Active View options.