Display items properties tabs

Attribute

Associate a display item with an attribute. The tab layout varies depending on the display item. The instructions on the tab itself describe the available controls.

Axis

Modify the properties of the chart's X and Y axes. Each axis on a chart identifies a different type of information. You can modify attributes for the X or Y axes. Select an axis you want to change and click OK. Then you can change the grid, starting point, labeling, annotations, font, color, title, and other features.

X Axis
The X axis is the horizontal axis. It usually is associated with time. You can select:

• whether or not you want to have the axis visible
• to show the grid, which attaches a set of gridlines to the axis 
• to show a logarithmic line.

Y Axis
The Y axis is the vertical axis. It is usually associated with amounts or quantities. You can select:

• whether or not to have it visible
• to show the grid which attaches a set of gridlines to the axis
• to use a logarithmic line
• to give it a title
• to have it automatically scaled.
  
  If you do not select to have it automatically scaled, you can use the select fields to select your minimum and maximum values, and the spacing of gridlines and intermediate ticks. 

Z axis (3D only)
Show or hide the Z axis and set a title.

Background

View Panels

• Color: to select background color.
• Image: browse for an image to place in the view pane background.
• Image placement: position the image using the positioning radio buttons. Alternatively, you can tile or stretch the image.
• Slide the gauge to the required image transparency value. 
• Apply these settings to apply the settings in this tab to all tabs in the current view. You can override the copied settings in individual tabs.

Gauges and Trend Charts

• Used to set the background of a gauge or trend chart by using a predefined theme, custom color, gradient, or transparent.
• A color theme is selected by using the slider; some themes have an additional texture color that can be set by using the Texture Color button.
• A custom color fills the entire background with a single, solid color.
• A custom gradient fills the background with a start color that gradually shifts towards the end color; a direction of the gradient can also be selected.
• Setting the background to transparent allows the user to see through the control.

Border

Launch the border wizard and select and title a suitable border.

Chart Colors

Set the colors of the chart. This sets the chart itself, not the data colors. Select colors to make information easy to read.

Chart Type

See Available chart types.

Color

Set the foreground and background of the display item. Make it transparent to allow the user to see any background image through it.

Command and Links

See Commands-and-Links-tab.

Data Properties

Set the colors of the data and remove attributes from the trend chart.

To change the color of an attribute, select the color box and select a new color.

To delete an attribute, click the delete button.

To add an attribute to a trend chart, select the attribute from the explorer pane and drag it on to the trend chart.

Display

Select the number of digits on each side of the decimal point.

Use the slider to space out the digits.

The segment line width allows you to specify how wide you want the lines in the LED digit.

Show or hide the caption and position it above or below the LED. Click Properties to enter and format caption text.

Display Item Tree

Modify the properties of each display item on a view. To modify a display item, select it from the list and select the Properties button. This brings up the same properties dialog box that you could get from right-clicking on the item, but you do not need to repeat the process if you want to change many items on the view.

You can see all the display items that are on the view, even some that might be hidden behind others. Use the buttons on the right to change the Z (visibility) order. Items at the top of the list appear on top of any overlapping items.

Endpoints

Set the location of the endpoints of the line by entering the X and Y coordinates of each endpoint. Alternatively, you can drag the control tags of a selected line.

Fill

Used to set the fill color that indicates the value in a linear gauge. Can be set to a predefined color theme, or set to a custom color.

Font

Set the typeface, size, and style of the text object. In the chart dialog box, font settings apply to the 2D chart only. If you use extended characters in the text, be sure that they are compatible with your font.

Frame

This is a child tab of the Gauge tab (circular and linear gauges), Appearance tab (trend charts), and LCD tab (numeric LEDs). The frame can be displayed or hidden. When it is showing, the type of frame, along with additional visual effects, can be selected by using the sliders.

General

The General tab occurs in the following property dialog boxes:

• Chart: Show or hide a header or footer. Click Properties to enter and format header or footer text.
• Trend Chart: Show or hide a header or footer. Click Properties to enter and format header or footer text.
• Circular Gauge: Show or hide a header or footer. Click Properties to enter and format header or footer text. Orient the fan of the gauge by entering suitable start and stop angles. Set the size of the needle hub with the radius tick and its color with the Center Color picker.
• Linear Gauge: Show or hide a header or footer. Click Properties to enter and format header or footer text. Orient the gauge horizontally or vertically

HTML and Links

Set up a hypertext display item.

• Call URL creates a link which, when clicked, opens the destination in the default web browser.
• HTML allows you to include text formatted with basic HTML tags.
• Load Page loads the HTML page specified in the hypertext display item. This page appears when the view is loaded. The displayed page does not, itself, support hypertext links. Do not use this to link to pages containing frames.

Image

Browse for the image to insert.

Justification

Set the justification of the text object.

Label

Shows or hides the main label of a linear or circular gauge; this label displays the name of the attribute assigned to the gauge. The label's color can also be set. For circular gauges, a second label can be defined to display any required text. The selected color affects both labels.

Lcd

Configure the Lcd portion of a circular or linear gauge, or the properties of a numeric LED.

For gauges, the Lcd can be displayed or hidden.

The Lcd color can be set to a predefined color theme, using the up and down arrow buttons. The theme in the red border indicates the currently-selected theme. The button between the arrows displays a popup showing all the themes; select one to set the color theme.

Alternately, custom foreground and background colors (including a background gradient) can be used in place of a color theme.

The Format settings can be used to:

• Set the number of decimal places shown in the Lcd.
• Set the Lcd values to be displayed in normal or scientific notation format.
• Set the display to show "normal" numbers or "digital" numbers, similar to what would be used on an LED alarm clock.

Legend

Hide or show a chart legend. Select Anchor and Orientation to orient the legend and set its color with the color picker buttons.

Lines and Arrowheads

Set the line thickness and style. Place or remove an arrowhead on either ends of the line. Change the line color.

Location and Size

Enter the location, width and height of the display item measured in pixels. Click Reset to return to the default location and size.

Use to adjust the height/width ratio of images containing text of line drawings.

72 pixels equals one inch or 2.54 centimeters.

You can also resize and move a display item by dragging the item or its edges in the view.

Pointer & Knob

Set the type and color of the pointer used in a circular gauge. The Pointer Type slider can be used to select a predefined pointer to use. The pointer color can be set to a predefined color theme (using the slider) or a custom color.

Set the type of knob that appears in the center of the circular gauge, using the slider.

Sections

Modify a current section or add/remove sections.

The values of a section describe how much distance there is between the start and end points of a numeric display. For instance, you might have a circular gauge with a low section and a high section. The low section could be red and be for values between 0 and 100. The high section could be blue and be for values between 90 and 100. When your queue depth is below 10, it would be easy to see that because the pointer would be in a red zone.

Circular gauges can define a section (which is displayed as a band of color in the tickmark portion of the gauge) or an area (which is displayed as a wedge of color between the center of the gauge out to the tickmarks). A check box allows the gauge pointer to change color to match the section, when the gauge value falls within the specified range of the section.

Linear gauges automatically change their fill color when they fall within a section, and a section band is displayed in the tickmark portion of the gauge only when the value is within the section's defined range.

Scale

Set color and transparency. Set the maximum and minimum values of the scale or specify an attribute whose scale is applied to the display item. Set the value display to normal, scientific notation, or automatic to automatically change between normal and scientific as needed.

If you select an attribute for the maximum value, then set Tickmark Spacing to Automatic on the Tickmarks tab.

If the maximum scale value uses the same attribute associated with the gauge, the maximum scale value stays at the maximum value that the attribute has had since monitoring began.

For example, if both attributes are set to MsgEnqRate, and when the TMTM Monitor Console starts the MsgEnqRate has a value of 100, the maximum scale value and the needle are both 100. If MsgEnqRate goes up to 110, the maximum scale and needle moves to 110. However, if MsgEnqRate then goes down to 80, the needle changes to 80, but the maximum scale value remains at 110.

A threshold indicator can be shown at a specific value, and can be configured with a specific shape and color. A small light can be displayed on the gauge face that can be configured to flash either when the gauge value is above or below the defined threshold value.

Visual indicators can be shown on the gauge tickmark scale to indicate the smallest and largest values displayed by the gauge.

Scripts

See Animated script editor.

Text

Enter any letter or number, including extended ASCII characters. If the text is very long, you might need to change the size of the display item. The maximum number of characters is 4 megabytes or 8.2 million characters. You might also need to coordinate this tab carefully with the font tab if you are using extended characters.

For buttons, the Text tab has additional options that allows you to position the text relative to any image you might have on the button. If you are not using an image, the position functionality for text on buttons is ignored and replaced with the image. For button faces, you might want to use an image in addition to the text.

Text Output

Set the maximum and minimum number of digits before and after a decimal point in the text object. Check Use Text Formatting to apply the selected digit settings.

Tickmarks

The visibility of major tickmarks, minor tickmarks, and labels can be set individually.

Ticks are automatically generated if Automatic Spacing is checked. When unchecked, you can fully configure tick settings.

Tickmark color can be automatically set (useful when configuring a color theme background) or set to a custom color. The type of tickmarks can be individually set for major and minor ticks.

tool tip

Enter the text to appear in the tool tip of the display item.

If the "Default" option is selected, the default behavior is used. The default varies from one display item to the next. Most display items do not use a tool tip by default. Many simply display the attribute assigned to them. Animated display items show the script that evaluates to true. There is no length limitation. Lines wrap at 100 characters or by pressing Enter to start a new line.

Some display items such as text, gauges, and LEDs can also display the current attribute value as a tool tip. Buttons also support this feature if you send an attribute value via a custom button command. Select the Attribute Value option to enable this feature.

Topic Configuration

Select the topic/type and its attributes to monitor. Associate a filter with the type. You can search for specific attributes associated with the selected type.

X Scale

The Minimum Update Frequency field determines the minimum interval of trend chart updates in seconds. For example, if this value is set to 10, the trend chart is updated with a new value every 10 seconds.

If your trend chart update frequency is set to a value higher than the topic update sample interval, then the trend chart drops values. For instance, if the trend chart update frequency is set to 60 seconds, but the sample interval is 10 seconds, the trend chart is displayed every 6th update value; the other 5 are lost.

As a best practice, set this value to match the value of the sample interval at which the agents report updates. However, if views with trend charts are taking a long time to load or display, increase this interval to improve performance.

Setting this value lower than the sample interval does not have any gains for you other than to make chart seem livelier, and results in higher CPU use by the TMTM Monitor Console. Never set it below 5.

Y Scale

Check Automatic Scaling to automatically scale the trend chart. The minimum and maximum values define where the chart ends. Be sure to set a maximum higher than your actual maximums.

The grid line spacing and grid line tick spacing determine the way the chart is read. Be sure that the spacing you select fits within the size constraints of the trend chart and is reflective of the attributes you are monitoring. If your spacing is not compatible with the size of the trend chart, it is automatically adjusted.