How can I create a control on a dashboard that shows the count of the alerts in a dataview

Dashboards are most effective when they are used to display summary information, rather than the detail that is coming from the gateways. An example can be seen below where rather than add all the TREP data directly to the dashboard we are just displaying counts of alerts (Warning and critical's).

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In this example, both the central value, and the colored tabs contain a summary of the number of alerts in a given data view or area, rather than the alerts themselves. The dashboard then has a link that when pressed goes to the underlying data view for further investigation.

But how do you create the controls that show summaries of the number of alerts, the following FAQ aims to show you that.

For the purpose of this article we will consider the following data view

We need to supplement it with some computed cells into which we will add the count of warning and critical cells, as well as the overall count of the highest alert level. This is completed via the Advanced tab in the sampler configuration, and adding the headlines under the 'Additions in the data view settings' By way of example try the following sampler XML

<sampler name="Linux Disk">
    <expectRows>
        <data></data>
    </expectRows>
    <plugin>
        <disk>
            <autoDetect>
                <data>true</data>
            </autoDetect>
        </disk>
    </plugin>
    <dataviews>
        <dataview name="Linux Disk">
            <additions>
                <var-headlines>
                    <data>
                        <headline>
                            <data>Warnings</data>
                        </headline>
                        <headline>
                            <data>Criticals</data>
                        </headline>
                        <headline>
                            <data>AlertSummary</data>
                        </headline>
                    </data>
                </var-headlines>
            </additions>
        </dataview>
    </dataviews>
</sampler>

Once applied the data view will have extra headlines

To add values into these cells we need to use rules. The following rules will populate the above cells assuming the headlines are the same as set using the XML above (add a new rule group and switch out the XML for that shown below).

<ruleGroup name="Counting Alerts">
    <rule name="Count Warnings">
        <targets>
            <target>/geneos/gateway/directory/probe/managedEntity/sampler/dataview/headlines/cell[(@name=&quot;Warnings&quot;)]</target>
        </targets>
        <priority>1</priority>
        <pathAliases>
            <pathAlias name="numWarnings">../../rows/row/cell[(state(&quot;severity&quot;)=&quot;2&quot;)][(@column=&quot;freeInodes&quot;)]</pathAlias>
        </pathAliases>
        <block>
            <set>
                <var ref="numOfWarnings"></var>
                <count>
                    <dataItems>
                        <pathAlias ref="numWarnings"></pathAlias>
                        <property>@value</property>
                    </dataItems>
                </count>
            </set>
            <transaction>
                <update>
                    <property>@value</property>
                    <var ref="numOfWarnings"></var>
                </update>
            </transaction>
        </block>
    </rule>
    <rule name="Count Criticals">
        <targets>
            <target>/geneos/gateway/directory/probe/managedEntity/sampler/dataview/headlines/cell[(@name=&quot;Criticals&quot;)]</target>
        </targets>
        <priority>1</priority>
        <pathAliases>
            <pathAlias name="numcriticals">../../rows/row/cell[(state(&quot;severity&quot;)=&quot;3&quot;)][(@column=&quot;freeInodes&quot;)]</pathAlias>
        </pathAliases>
        <block>
            <set>
                <var ref="numOfcriticals"></var>
                <count>
                    <dataItems>
                        <pathAlias ref="numcriticals"></pathAlias>
                        <property>@value</property>
                    </dataItems>
                </count>
            </set>
            <transaction>
                <update>
                    <property>@value</property>
                    <var ref="numOfcriticals"></var>
                </update>
            </transaction>
        </block>
    </rule>
    <rule name="Summary">
        <targets>
            <target>/geneos/gateway/directory/probe/managedEntity/sampler/dataview/headlines/cell[(@name=&quot;AlertSummary&quot;)]</target>
        </targets>
        <priority>1</priority>
        <pathAliases>
            <pathAlias name="warnings">../cell[(@name=&quot;Warnings&quot;)]</pathAlias>
            <pathAlias name="criticals">../cell[(@name=&quot;Criticals&quot;)]</pathAlias>
        </pathAliases>
        <block>
            <set>
                <var ref="numWarnings"></var>
                <dataItem>
                    <pathAlias ref="warnings"></pathAlias>
                    <property>@value</property>
                </dataItem>
            </set>
            <set>
                <var ref="numCriticals"></var>
                <dataItem>
                    <pathAlias ref="criticals"></pathAlias>
                    <property>@value</property>
                </dataItem>
            </set>
            <if>
                <gt>
                    <var ref="numCriticals"></var>
                    <integer>0</integer>
                </gt>
                <transaction>
                    <update>
                        <property>@value</property>
                        <var ref="numCriticals"></var>
                    </update>
                    <update>
                        <property>state/@severity</property>
                        <severity>critical</severity>
                    </update>
                </transaction>
                <if>
                    <gt>
                        <var ref="numWarnings"></var>
                        <integer>0</integer>
                    </gt>
                    <transaction>
                        <update>
                            <property>@value</property>
                            <var ref="numWarnings"></var>
                        </update>
                        <update>
                            <property>state/@severity</property>
                            <severity>warning</severity>
                        </update>
                    </transaction>
                    <transaction>
                        <update>
                            <property>@value</property>
                            <integer>0</integer>
                        </update>
                        <update>
                            <property>state/@severity</property>
                            <severity>ok</severity>
                        </update>
                    </transaction>
                </if>
            </if>
        </block>
    </rule>
</ruleGroup>

The headlines will then be populated such that:

The warning headline contains the count of warnings in that column
The critical headline contains the count of critical cells in that column
The summary shows the number of alerts at the highest alert level. For example, if there are any critical's it will show the count of critical's, if not it will show the warnings, otherwise it will show 0 and be OK

To add this summary to the dashboard you just need to create a new rectangle on the dashboard and then drag the summary cell over it, and selected the 'Link Severity to background and Link label to value' modifiers.

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How can I create a control on a dashboard that shows the count of the alerts in a dataview

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