Accessing Methods
In the Portal, select .
To Add a Method, click at the top of the view panel to launch the Method Designer window.
To Edit a Method, double-click a method or select a method and click .
In the Method Designer, define and edit the following method components.
Name
This user-defined name for the method, limited to 100 characters, must be unique.
Short Name
This user-defined, case-insensitive name must be unique, with the following constraints:
Limited to up to 23 characters.
Cannot begin with a number.
Cannot contain special characters or spaces.
Cannot contain Oracle reserved words. For a list of reserved words, see the Oracle documentation.
Use this name when defining a WITH or JOIN clause. During query validation, you may see this name listed in error messages.
Short Description
This description, limited to 200 characters, is displayed in the methods view panel.
Long Description
The long description is limited to 4,000 characters. Use this description to provide essential details, such as prerequisites, which will aid anyone wanting to customize the method.
With Clause
Use the SQL WITH clause to assign a name to a subquery block so that it can be easily referenced in the query. The WITH clause must follow these rules:
"/>WITH clause aliases must be unique across all the functions used in a report template; therefore, create an alias in the following format:
<function_name><number>
Example: BackupWindow1
"/>-->Cannot contain Oracle reserved words that can alter data in the database; for example, DELETE, UPDATE, or INSERT.
Query
Define the SQL query with SELECT statements to return data from the database.
Cannot contain Oracle reserved words that can alter data in the database; for example, DELETE, UPDATE, or INSERT.
All columns in the SELECT clause must be aliased; for example,
SELECT decode(client_id,1,'121212',2,'2323',5) A FROM apt_v_job
The function,collectString, can be used in the Method Designer to concatenate distinct values. The Oracle function, aptStringConcat with DISTINCT or UNIQUE, cannot be used to concatenate values in a method, even though the method will validate and save. When that method is used in a report template, it will fail.
See collectString.
Join Clause
Use the SQL JOIN clause to combine results from the Method with the results of the template. The JOIN clause must follow these rules:
The JOIN conditions should use relevant enterprise object tables only. See the Dynamic Template Designer to view the table associated with a field.
Only the equal sign (=) is supported.
The method's field should always be defined on the left side of the equal sign (=) .
SQL functions, such as UPPER, DECODE, or LOWER cannot be used in a JOIN clause.
Certain database tables cannot be used in JOIN clauses.
Click at the bottom of the Method Designer window to validate the query.
Validate Query only validates the With and Query components. If an error exists, both components will be bordered in red, indicating that the validation has failed. In addition, after validation, the Fields pane will be populated with the fields (database columns) that are used in the query.
At the right of the Method Designer window, the and buttons enable the following configurations and capabilities.
Fields
When adding a Method, the Fields pane will be populated only after the query has been successfully validated.
Check the boxes to select the fields that will be available in the Dynamic Template Designer so that the method can be included in a report template.
Several entries are required for each field before the method can be successfully saved.
Label: User-supplied. This label is what will appear in the Report Template.
Field Name: Pre-defined by the Method Designer.
Short Description: User-supplied.
Long Description: User-supplied.
Resources
Enterprise Object: Select an enterprise object. This selection makes a method available to only templates created for that object. It also drives the list of tokens that are available for use in a query to enable variable substitution at report run time.
Product: Select a specific vendor product (subsystem) for the enterprise object; for example, for a storage array enterprise object, EMC VNX (Celerra).
Tokens: These tokens can be used in a query to enable variable substitution at run time. Place your cursor at the insertion point in the query and double-click the token.
See Tokens for Methods.
The list of relevant tokens is driven by the selected Product Group.
Click .
