Explorer Configuration
The Explorer View page is accessible from the main Console Automation configuration page. This page allows administrators to create, modify and delete explorer configurations for use in viewers.
To create a new Explorer View, click the New Explorer button. A dialog will appear prompting for the name and description for the new view. Click “Save” to save the changes and the Edit Explorer View page will appear.
Delete an Explorer View
Click the “Delete” icon to delete an Explorer View. The Explorer View will be permanently deleted and removed from all MVCA viewers that use it.
Copy an Explorer View
Click the “Copy” icon to Copy an Explorer View. Click “Save” to save the changes and the Edit Explorer View page will appear.
Edit an Explorer View
Clicking the “Edit” icon on an existing Explorer View, or after creating a new view or copying an existing view will display a page allowing modifications to be made to the view. When editing an Explorer View, all changes are immediately saved on the server. The edit page allows you to add nodes, edit nodes and assign actions to nodes in the three. Clicking the buttons will operate on the selected nodes in the tree. A context, or right-click, menu is also available by clicking the right mouse button over a node.
Clicking on a node will cause that node to be selected and the previously selected node will be de-selected. Holding down the control key allows for multiple nodes to be selected, with the newly selected node being added to the set of selected nodes. Holding down the shift key allows for a range of nodes to be selected. The Actions and Delete operations will operate on all the selected nodes at once.
Add
The “Add” button displays a dialog box for a new node that will be placed under the selected node. Once the node has been created and added, the Edit node dialog will appear.
Edit
The “Edit” button displays the dialog box for editing an existing node. A dialog box will appear and contains fields for the name, description, session information, and an icon to be displayed in the tree. The session information is optional, but required for certain actions that require a session.
Delete
The “Delete” button deletes the selected nodes.
Actions
MVCA maintains a list of actions that are available for use by all Explorer Views. Clicking the “Actions” button will display the actions dialog, allowing actions to be created and assigned to the selected nodes.
New Action
Clicking the New Action button will display the new action dialog. The dialog has the following fields:
Name | The name of the actions that will be displayed in the context menu for the node. |
Description | A description for the node |
Show Confirmation Dialog/Confirmation Text | When the checkbox is checked, the confirmation text is displayed to the operator before invoking the action, allowing the operator to cancel the operation. The variables %Server% and %Session% may be used in the confirmation message. If the action type requires parameters, the replaceable parameters %1%, %2%, etc. may also be used. |
Type | Selects from the available action types. |
The check boxes next to the action name indicate whether or not the action should appear on the context menu for the selected nodes. In the MVCA Viewer, actions appear in the order as they appear in the actions dialog. The order may be modified by dragging and dropping the individual actions. As with the main Explorer View editing page, all changes are saved immediately.
Action Types
Several action types are available within MVCA for operators to use and are described below.
Display a session viewer
When invoked by the operator, opens the session viewer for the session associated with the node.
Filter messages based on selection
Sets the message filter to display messages only from the session associated with the node. The node must be associated with a session for this action.
Run a desktop application
Runs a command on the operator’s desktop. Microsoft Windows allows documents or URLs to be opened using the “start” command from the Windows command line. For example, if the command is “cmd.exe /c start http://www.bmc.com”, the MVCA Viewer will use the user’s default browser to connect to www.bmc.com.
Send a command to the session
Sends a command to the session. For example, an action could be called “Start TCP/IP” and send a “s tcpip” command to the console, which might start the TCP/IP services on the LPAR.
Run an RDL2 function
Runs an RDL2 function as if “do rdl2function” was entered in the command input field.
Run an RDL2 function with parameters
Prompts the operator for parameters and then runs the function, passing the parameters as entered by the operator. Parameter prompts and default values may be specified by clicking the “Add Parameter” button.
Start a terminal session
Starts a terminal emulator. TN3270, Telnet and SSH session are supported.