Visual query builder tools

The Visual query builder provides many tools to enable you to create queries. This topic provides detailed information on the tools and menus that are part of the visual query builder.

Node Kinds selection panel

The content of the Node Kinds selection panel is appropriate to the node kind from which it is invoked. The following screenshot shows Node Kinds selection panels invoked from:

The initial Add a starting node kind icon.
A Software Instance node.
A Mainframe node.

The Node Kinds selection panel contains the following sections:

Section		Description
Search		Free text search. Only node kinds appropriate to your starting node are returned.
View selection	Common	Shows the Common node kinds view; a list of the node kinds that might be commonly used from your starting node. For example, the Common node kinds list displayed when invoked from a Software Instance is not the same as the one displayed when invoked from a Mainframe. Also displays a list of node kinds that you have used recently. You can select more than one node kind to represent multiple node kinds. You can select more than one node kind to represent multiple node kinds from the common view.
	By category	Shows a categorized tree view of all nodes that might be used from your starting node. You can select more than one node kind to represent multiple node kinds from the category view.
	Any Kind	No nodes are listed, but the Search is no longer restricted according to your starting node; any node in the BMC Discovery model can be selected.
Button bar	Cancel	Cancels your changes and reverts to the previous view.
	Specify Relationship	Opens the Relationship Picker so that you can choose the relationship between the starting node and the node that you are adding.
	Filters and Columns	Opens the Filters and Columns panel so that you can use attributes to filter the node kinds that match the query, and you can choose the columns to display in the query results.
	Apply	Applies your changes.

Nodes representing multiple node kinds

You can add up to 10 node kinds, for example, where a particular application is running on a host, cluster, or deployment, you can add all three node kinds, and the resulting query matches that application running on either a host or a cluster. Where a node represents a number of different node kinds, the count is shown on a 'wildcard' node icon:

To add nodes

To add a host node and a related Software Instance:

Click the Add a starting node kind icon.
From the Node Kinds selection panel, select Host node.
Click Apply.
Click the Add a related node icon.
From the Node Kinds selection panel, select Software Instance.
Click Apply.

Relationship Picker

The Relationship Picker enables you to choose the relationship to add between two nodes, or to edit an existing relationship between nodes. The following screenshot shows the Relationship Picker for a relationship between a Host and a Software Instance:

In the visual query builder, a relationship comprises: a node kind, a relationship kind, and a node kind. The Relationship Picker enables you to define the required number of nodes at each end to match, and the relationship kind. The following table describes the choices available for the number of nodes required to match the resulting query:

Node kind count option	Description
At least	There must be at least the selected number of related nodes. The default value is at least one, meaning that there can be one or more of the node kind to match the resulting query.
Fewer than	There must be fewer than the selected number of related nodes to match the resulting query.
Exactly	There must be exactly the selected number of related nodes to match the resulting query.
In range	The number of related nodes must be in the specified range to match the resulting query.
Make optional	Only available for non-focused nodes. Enables you to create a relationship for a query that matches if the target node is present or not, making the target node optional.

The relationship selector enables you to specify the relationship kind. The list of relationships shows the most likely relationship kinds, and also the total number of valid relationships. If the particular relationship that you want is not shown in the list, click Show all to see all available relationships. There might be many, in which case you can filter those shown to simplify finding the required relationship.

Filters and Columns

You can follow these descriptions and examples of Filters and Columns by using them with a view of a Host node and a Software Instance node. To add a Host node and a related Software Instance:

Click Add a starting node kind icon.
From the Node Kinds selection panel, select Host node.
Click Apply.
Click the Add a related node icon.
From the Node Kinds selection panel, select Software Instance.
Click Apply.

Filters

The Filters tab of the Filters and Columns panel enables you to choose the attribute values required to match the node in the resultant query.

The following screenshot shows the Filter panel for a Software Instance with a filter configured to match Software Instances with Discovery in the name:

The following screenshot shows the Filter panel for a Host node with a filter configured to match virtualized Linux hosts with 8 GB RAM or more:

The down arrow shows possible values for attributes, for example:

To add a filter:

Select a node and click the filter icon.
The Filters tab of the Filters and Columns panel is displayed.
Select a condition group with one of the following conditions:
- All of these are true
- Any of these are true
- None of these are true
Select an attribute to test from the list of available attributes on the selected node.

Select a condition. The following conditions are available depending on the data type of the attribute.

String	Numeric	Boolean
contains word	is	is true
contains phrase	is not	is false
contains	greater than	is defined
is	greater than or equal to
is any of	less than
starts with	less than or equal to
ends with	is defined
matches regex
is not
is defined

The individual conditions or condition groups can be dragged and dropped to modify the filter.
Click Apply to apply the filter.

Columns

The Columns tab of the Filters and Columns panel enables you to choose the the columns displayed in the query result. Continuing the example from the Filters section, with the Host node selected:

Click the Columns icon.
The Columns tab of the Filters and Columns panel is displayed.
The From drop-down shows the node with focus in the Visual Query Builder.
Pick columns to display by selecting entries in the Pick columns list.
To display columns from another node kind displayed in the query, select the node kind by using the From drop-down, and pick columns from the Pick columns list.
Click Apply to save the changes.

Node tools

The Node tools are displayed whenever a node has focus. You can see the node tools for nodes without focus by hovering the mouse pointer over the node.

Node tools menu item	Description
Create new link	Creates a link to an available node. When you click Create new link, the system displays a straight arrow from the current node towards the mouse pointer. To create a new link, click an appropriate node. The Relationship Picker is then displayed to enable you to configure the new relationship.
Add or modify filter	Opens the Filters tab of the Filters and Columns panel and enables you to select attributes on the node that must be matched for the query to return a result. For example, on a Host node, you can define a match of the OS Type attribute contains the word Linux.
Add or modify columns displayed	Opens the Columns tab of the Filters and Columns panel where you can select the columns displayed in the query result. You can add columns from the focused or connected nodes.
Add a related node	Opens the Node Kinds selection panel where you can select a related node to add. The system also adds the relationship between the focused node and the new node.
Actions menu	Displays the Actions menu for the node, with the following options:
Actions menu item	Description
Edit node kind	Opens the Node Kinds selection panel where you can select a node kind to change to. When you select another node kind, the original remains selected.
Change node name	Opens the Filters and Columns panel where you can change the name of the node in the UI. The name change does not affect the search, it is simply a label on that node.
Delete	Deletes the selected node without confirmation.
Mark as optional	Marks the node as optional, that is, it does not have to be present for the query to match. It is the equivalent of editing the relationship count for that node to >=0 in the Relationship Picker.
Move to left	Moves the selected node one position to the left.

Background tools popup

Right clicking the background provides a popup menu with the following options:

Background tools menu item	Description
Add unrelated node	Adds an unrelated node in the position of the popup menu. For more information, see Add unrelated node.
Clear	Clears the contents of the view.
Copy JSON conditions	Copies a JSON representation of the query to the system clipboard.

Add unrelated node

It can be more convenient to add a target node: for example, a Load Balancer node, with the word Jira in its name, and navigate back to the source, than to try and navigate directly to the Jira Load Balancer, particularly when there are intermediate nodes in the traversal.

Click Add unrelated node.
The Node Kinds selection panel is displayed.
Select a required node kind.
Filters and columns.
Click Apply.
The node is added to the view, but is not connected to any other node in the view.
Click Create new link and connect the node to the required node in the view. There might not be a node to which you can connect directly, in which case, you must add a suitable intermediate node.

Zoom and undo/redo controls

Zoom and undo/redo controls are provided at the top right of the screen.

Icon	Description
Undo/Redo	Enables you to undo or redo recent operations. Where no operation can be undone, the undo icon is disabled. Where no operation can be redone, the redo icon is disabled. When you save removal rules, the Undo/Redo queue is cleared.
Zoom slider	Drag the slider up or down respectively. Pressing Control and using the mouse scroll-wheel can be used to zoom in and out.
Zoom to fit	Click the zoom to fit control, or double-click the background to fit the image to the window.