Ribbon Bar, Panes, and Views

The ActiveBatch Web Console has a set of areas for displaying information and for requesting various functions and features. The ribbon bar consists of two tabs – Actions and View. The Actions tab provides a list of various context sensitive commands you can select from. The Actions tab is one method for specifying operations (like “Disconnect” from the Job Scheduler, or “Trigger” a job). The View tab displays a list of Views you can select from. By default, the ribbon bar is hidden. That’s because it’s simpler to right-click on the various objects in the Navigation pane and request operations using that method. As per the image below, click on the icon outlined in red to collapse or expand the ribbon bar.

 

 

In the image below, the ribbon bar is depicted when the View tab is active.

 

 

In the image below, the ribbon bar is depicted when the Actions tab is active. In this example, since JobA currently has focus in the Navigation pane, you see Actions applicable to a Job. You would see the same actions if you right-click on the job. They appear as a pop-up menu items you can select from. You can use whatever method you prefer to invoke actions against an object.

 

 

Next, Web Console's top leftmost pane is comprised of three options, where the currently selected option is what the pane will display. Only one option can be active (expanded) at a time in the pane. The three options include Navigation, Tags and Favorites. The Navigation option (sometimes referred to as the Navigation Tree or simply the tree) is what you will see expanded in the pane, by default. Navigation is most appropriate when you want to navigate the ActiveBatch namespace (access the objects stored in the namespace).

 

 

Users who consider themselves Designers will most likely use the Navigation pane. It is in this pane that ActiveBatch objects are managed (created, modified, and deleted).

 

Tags (accessed under the Navigation by default) provides an easy way for you to catalog or associate one or more lookup tags with an object. As the majority of objects are reusable in ActiveBatch, a single object can have many roles. The ability to tag an object and how it is used for later lookup is very important.

 

Favorites (directly under the Tags pane by default) provides an easy way for you to quickly access your most critical plans and jobs (or other important objects). Rather than always using the Navigation tree, the Favorites window allows you to categorize and save your favorite objects (like the Favorites menu operation found on most web browsers). To add a favorite object to Favorites, right-click on the object and select Advanced/Add to Favorites. This operation will display a small dialog box that allows you to name your favorite (the default is the object’s name). When you double-click on a saved favorite, the object is opened, and its property sheets are tabbed in the Main view. In addition, you may right-click on the favorite object to see a sub-menu of operations applicable to your favorite object.

 

Below the Navigation Pane is the Views pane. When you select a view (for example, Operations View, Gantt or Daily Activity) the Main view or window is activated. The main window is multi-tabbed with the actual view as part of the tab.

 

 

While your selection can result in multiple views (and tabs), only one view is active and can be in focus. Each tab is listed along the top of the Main window. This is depicted in the image below.

 

 

The information presented in the Main window is, of course, based on the view that you selected. For example, in the Daily Activity view you would be shown a list of job instances for the specified date. That’s fine, but sometimes more information is needed. For example, what if you wanted to see previous instance history for a specific job or plan. To satisfy instance information, the Instances pane is used. This pane, by default, appears at the lower right-hand side of the screen. The Alerts and Notifications panes, accessible from the Views pane and tabbed in the Main view, allow an operator or other interested user to see any pending alerts or audits created by any of the ActiveBatch jobs or plans.

 

The Variable Explorer window (accessible through the ribbon bar > Views tab) provides an easy way for you to see what variables are defined based on the object that’s been selected in the Navigation tree. By default, the view is tabbed along side the Instances pane (which is open by default, unless closed by the user) in the lower right-hand side of the application. If you select a job or plan, you will see a list of variables from that selected object and up the tree to the Job Scheduler’s root. The Variable Explorer allows you to search, find all references, move, rename, or delete a variable.

 

The Instance Details view (accessible through the ribbon bar > views tab) is, by default, a real-time auto-refreshing view that displays the selected instance’s log file and other instance details. This view is very convenient if you want to watch a job’s log file without having to continually refresh the view. When you click on an instance, you will see the currently selected instance’s details in the Instance Details view. When you click on a template in the Navigation pane, you will see the details for the last completed instance of the selected template, or the currently active instance, if there is one.

 

The Properties window (not to be confused with each object’s properties dialog) provides a quick and easy facility for viewing the most important properties of an object without having to issue a Properties operation. The Properties window, by default, is located under the Navigation pane.

 

Almost all views and panes support dynamic real-time display. This is great when you want to watch your plans or jobs as they execute and complete. Some views allow you to disable auto-refresh by providing a button to do so. However, there is no system-wide option for disabling automatic refresh.

 

The Log Viewer window (accessible through the ribbon bar > views tab) contains all informational, success and error messages concerning your use of ActiveBatch.

 

Menu Operations

 

Menus are provided to allow you to perform an operation appropriate to the object. You select a menu from either the ribbon bar or by right-clicking on an object. The menu that is shown is always appropriate to the object and in context. For example, if an object is disabled, then a menu operation to enable is provided.

 

Object Selection

 

Web Console supports the selection of one or more job objects for the purpose of performing a single operation. Left click on a desired object to select it. Depending on the view your selection may cause a change in the display within several panes. For example, if you needed to Hold several unrelated jobs you can select each job using the typical Windows select operations (Shift or Ctrl key combination).

 

ActiveBatch Icons

 

As you look through the various Web Console menus and views you’ve probably noticed many icons. ActiveBatch makes very liberal use of icons, and this section describes each icon you will see in the system. ActiveBatch icons do not use color to denote object type. So even on a black and white monitor you will be able to differentiate between a queue and a job. Color is used when the state of an object changes to something other than enabled. For example, if an object is disabled, another icon will appear to the left of the icon representing the object. The disabled icon is a red circle with a line drawn through it.

 

Green is considered a “good” state. Red indicates either some type of problem or a user specified operation that acts to inhibit further operations (for example, stopping a queue will result in a red square icon appearing to the left of the queue icon). Job and Plan definitions do not observe the red/green convention since a defined plan/job does not actually run. Plan and Job instances, however, do observe the red/green convention (with “purple” indicating that the instance was canceled or aborted). There are other instance colors that reflect the state of an active instance (e.g., blue for executing).

 

 

Tabs and Tab Icons

The Web Console uses a “Tab” when opening an object’s property sheet or view. For example,

 

 

The figure above shows an example of the “Localhost” queue property sheet. The tab contains an icon representing the object as well as the name of the object. Hovering over the tab provides information concerning the object’s path, job scheduler the object resides on and the object’s id. The small stylized “x” is how you close a property sheet or view using Web Console.

 

When you select different object categories, you can elect to either save your changes or discard them. To save your changes, two options are present: “Save” and “Save and Close”. Clicking “Save” will save the object and keep the property sheet visible. “Save and Close” will save your changes and then close out the property so it is no longer visible. To close and discard your changes, click the small “x” in the tab. A confirmation dialog will appear if you made changes to the object. Click the “Yes” button to discard the changes and “No” to cancel the closing of the object.

 

To the extreme right of a property sheet you’ll see a stylized Question Mark. Clicking on the mark will cause a context sensitive help system to appear (which is basically this documentation in HTML form).

 

ActiveBatch Hot-Keys

 

Web Console supports the use of hot-keys for those advanced users who would prefer to use the keyboard for faster product interaction than your mouse.  

 

Global Keys

 

Key	Description
F1	Hot Keys Sheet
F2	Toggle Designer Mode
F4	Connect to a Job Scheduler
F6	Focus Navigation Search Bar
F10	Open Preferences
CTRL + C	Copy Currently Selected Object
CTRL + E	Collapse or Expand Currently Selected Object
CTRL + F	Find/Search for object(s) by Name or Label
CTRL + G	Find object by ID or Full Path in Tree
CTRL + O	Open Property Sheet of Object by ID or Path
CTRL + V	Paste Last Copied Object
CTRL + X	Cut Currently Selected Object
CTRL + Up	Toggle Top Region
CTRL + Left	Toggle Left Region
CTRL + Down	Toggle Bottom Region
CTRL + ‘	Close Current Tab
CTRL + S	Save Current Property Sheet
CTRL + SHIFT + S	Save and Close Current Property Sheet

 

Objects Explorer Tree

 

Key	Description
DELETE	Delete selected object (a.k.a. RightClick->Delete)
ENTER	Show Properties of selected object (a.k.a. RightClick->Properties)