A lot of network technologies and configurations contain more than one instance. For example, a QoS contains many queues, an OSPF configuration contains multiple area ids, a VLAN corresponds to a spanning tree and so on.

Adding input variables to the definition of a data view template allows end users to select or input the target values to generate expected data views when applying the data view template.

Using Input Variable

This is an example for applying the "Spanning Tree VLAN Instance" data view template which contains the "VLAN" variable. You will be asked to select an id to generate the data view you expect. For how to define this input variable, refer to Defining Input Variable.

Defining Input Variable

In the definition of a data view template, an input variable can be either auto-loaded or manually added.

▪Auto Load an Input Variable
When a parameterized parser variable is added to a device/interface position, highlight, note, or the supporting variable list, each parameter will be auto-added as an input variable. See Properties for more detailed explanation.

Note: The system will not generate an input variable for semantic parameters that are contained in parser variables or API variables, such as $intf_name, $cpu_oid, $mem_oid, and $ifIndex.

▪Manually Add an Input Variable
See Properties for more detailed explanation.

 

Properties of Input Variable

The following table lists the properties of an input variable.

Property

Description

Introductory Sentence

A sentence appearing on user interface to require user input when applying a data view template.

Variable Source

The command of CLI/SNMP parser or name of API parser where this input variable originates from.

Note: This property only applies to those loaded from parameterized parser variables.

Variable Type

The type of this input variable: Boolean, Number, or String.

Variable Scope

The effective scope to use this input variable.

▪Template Level — use the same value for all qualified devices to generate data views.

▪Device Level — use different values for qualified devices to generate data views.

Display Name

The name of this input variable displayed in a prompt dialog to ask for user input.

Option Values

The values that can be selected and used to generate a data view. Multiple values must be separated by a semicolon.

You can correlate option values to a single device-level GDR property. For example, GDR:$vlan. The format is GDR:$<propertyname>.
Note: Table-type variables are not supported.

Allow Manual Input

Control whether values can be manually entered for this input variable at the runtime of data view template.