Custom reports

AppPerfect Monitor provides a report designer wizard to create highly customized reports. The user can select a pre-defined template to create a report or define the entire layout of the custom report.

To create a custom report, click the Reports tab in the AppPerfect Monitor UI and click the "Add" button. A wizard is displayed that will step you through the process of defining a custom report. Following is a summary of the various tabs in the wizard.

General

Specify the following properties in the general tab of the report designer wizard

Report ID: Give a unique Id to your report here.
Report Name: Specify the name of the report.
Description: Briefly describe your report here.
Default Output Format: Specify whether you want your output in HTML or PDF format.
Column Orientation: Choose from Horizontal or vertical.
Today's Date:
- Show checkbox: Select this if you want to include the current date in your output.
- Add to Section: Specify whether you want the date displayed in the Report Header/Footer or in the Page Header/Footer.
- Format: Choose from Long, Medium and Short.
- Properties button: Click this button to access the text formatting options for the date.

Page Settings

Here you can set the layout and select if you want to display the page border and page numbers in the report.

Paper Size: Specify whether you want your report to match A4, Letter or Legal paper sizes.
Orientation: Select Portrait or Landscape depending how you want the layout of your results page(s).
Page Width: Specify the width of the page.
Page Height: Specify the height of the page.
Top Margin: Specify the distance you want between the top of the page and your report data.
Left Margin: Specify the distance you want between the left edge of the page and your report data.
Bottom Margin: Specify the distance you want between the bottom of the page and your report data.
Right Margin: Specify the distance you want between the right edge of the page and your report data.
Page Border:
- Show: Select this check box if you want to show a border for the report.
- Size: Select the border size from here.
- Color: Select the color of the border from here.
Page Number:
- Show checkbox: Select this checkbox if you want to include page numbers in your output.
- Add to Section: Specify whether you want the page numbers displayed in the Header or the Footer of the resulting page(s).
- Format: Select from the three different formats of displaying page numbers.
- Properties button: Click this button to access the text formatting options for page numbers.

Headers & Footers

Here you can work on the headers and footers for the report.

Add button: Clicking this button will open a dialog box where you can enter the text you want to display and also specify where do you want it to appear.

The table below this button will show you the various attributes that have been set regarding the headers and footers. These are:

Text	The Text of the Header/Footer you have entered.
Section	The place where the header /footer will appear. The text you've entered is a header if you select the Header section here and is a Footer if you select the footer section here.
Text Properties	Click 'Change' to change the visual properties of the header/footer text.

Remove: Click 'Delete' to delete this header/footer.

Columns

Specify the schema of the report that you want to create in the Select Columns tab of the New Report Wizard.

Select the columns that you want to include in your report from the list that is presented.

The database schema is shown here for your reference:

	Table / Column Name	Description	Data Type
1.	USERS	This table represents the User who is going to use Monitor

	USERID	Id representing the user. This is the primary key for the Table	VARCHAR(32) NOT NULL
	FIRSTNAME	First Name of the User	VARCHAR(128)
	LASTNAME	Last Name of the User	VARCHAR(128)
	PHONENO	Phone No of the User	VARCHAR(64)
	EMAIL	Email Id of the User. This is the email used for sending Email notifications to the User	VARCHAR(128)
	MOBILENO	MobileNo of the User. This is the number used for sending Sms notifications to the User	VARCHAR(64)
	YAHOOID	YahooId of the User. This is the id on which the Yahoo notifications will be sent to the User	VARCHAR(64)
	ISADMINISTRATOR	Is the User having Administrator Priveleges or not.	BOOLEAN NOT NULL
	AUTOREFRESHSTATUSPAGE	Should the Status Page be auto refreshed or manual refresh	BOOLEAN NOT NULL
	PAGEREFRESHINTERVAL	If the Status Page refresh is set to auto then what should be the refresh interval of the page. Specify the same in seconds	INTEGER NOT NULL
	DISPLAYEDDATAWINDOWPERIOD	What should be the default time period for which the dash board and charts be displayed for	VARCHAR (128) NOT NULL
	ALLOWCHARTTIMEPERIODCHANGE	Should the User be allowed to change the period for which he is monitoring the charts	BOOLEAN NOT NULL

2.	GROUPS	This table represents the Groups of Users.

	GROUPID	Id representing the group. This is the primary key for the Table	VARCHAR(32) NOT NULL
	GROUPNAME	Group Name describing the group	VARCHAR(128)

3.	USERATTRIBUTES	This table represents the Attributes which the User can view.

	ATTRIBUTENAME	This is foreign key to the MonitorAttributes Table	TEXT NOT NULL
	CONTROLLERID	This is foreign key to the Monitors Table	VARCHAR(30) NOT NULL
	USERID	This is foreign key to the Users Table	VARCHAR(30) NOT NULL
	ISVISIBLE	Is the Attribute Visible to the User or Not	BOOLEAN NOT NULL

4.	CONTROLLERTYPES	This table stores the monitor types

	CONTROLLERTYPEID	This is the Monitor Types Id. This is the primaryKey for the Table	VARCHAR(32) NOT NULL
	DESCRIPTION	This is the description associated with the type of monitor	VARCHAR(128) NOT NULL

5.	CONTROLLERS	This table represents the Monitor defined in Monitor

	CONTROLLERID	Id representing the monitor. This is the primary key for the Table	VARCHAR(32) NOT NULL
	CONTROLLERNAME	Monitor Name describing the monitor	VARCHAR(128) NOT NULL
	MACHINENAME	Host Name of the Target Machine	VARCHAR(128)
	MACHINEIP	IP Address of the Target Machine	VARCHAR(32)
	CONTROLLERTYPE ID	This is foreign key to the MonitorTypes Table	VARCHAR(32) NOT NULL
	DATAFETCHINTERVAL	Interval specified in seconds after which the data will be fetched by the Monitor.	INTEGER NOT NULL
	FAILUREVERIFYINTERVAL	Interval specified in seconds after which the Monitor will be checked for availablitly after the Monitor has gone in Polling.	INTEGER
	VERIFYFAILURE	Should the Monitor Verify the devices availability after it fails to retreive the data once before actually going into polling state	BOOLEAN NOT NULL
	ARCHIVEDATADURATIONINHOURS	Strategy to be followed for archiving	INTEGER NOT NULL
	CONSOLIDATEDATADURATIONINMINUTES	Strategy to be followed for consolidation	INTEGER NOT NULL
	ARCHIVEDATASTARTTIME	What hour of the day the archiving should be scheduled	INTEGER NOT NULL
	ISPURGINGENABLED	Purging is enabled for the Monitor or not	BOOLEAN NOT NULL
	PURGEDATADURATIONINDAYS	Strategy to be followed for purging	INTEGER
	PURGEDATASTARTTIME	What hour of the day the purging should be scheduled	INTEGER
	ISSUSPENDED	Is the Monitor is Suspended or Active mode	BOOLEAN NOT NULL

6.	CONTROLLERPROPERTY	This table represents the Properties for each Monitors defined in Monitor

	PROPERTYNAME	Name of the Monitors Property	VARCHAR(128) NOT NULL
	PROPERTYVALUE	Value of the Monitors Property	VARCHAR(255)
	CONTROLLERID	This is foreign key to the Monitors Table	VARCHAR(32) NOT NULL

7.	CONTROLLERSTATE	This table represents the State for each Monitors defined in Monitor for the time periods

	STATE	State of the Monitor. Different states possible are &ndash Ok, Suspended, Polling, Warning, Error	VARCHAR(64) NOT NULL
	CONTROLLERID	This is foreign key to the Monitors Table	VARCHAR(32) NOT NULL
	STARTTIME	Start time when the Monitor went to the state	DATETIME NOT NULL
	ENDTIME	End time when the Monitor changed its state	DATETIME

8.	CONTROLLERATTRIBUTES	This table stores all the attributes information which AppPerfect Agentless Monitor monitors

	NAME	This is the fully qualified name of the Monitors Attribute that the Monitor is monitoring. This is the primary key for the Table.	TEXT NOT NULL
	CONTROLLERID	This is foreign key to the Monitors Table	VARCHAR(32) NOT NULL
	SHORTNAME	ShortName of the Monitors Attribute	VARCHAR(128) NOT NULL
	DISPLAYNAME	DisplayName of the Monitors Attribute	VARCHAR(128) NOT NULL
	COLUMNNAME	ColumnName used in the Monitors Data Table for the Attribute	VARCHAR(32) NOT NULL
	DATATYPE	Data Type of the MonitorAttribute	VARCHAR(32) NOT NULL
	DATAUNIT	Data Unit. This value is used to show in the chart Title for the Attribute	VARCHAR(32)
	MAXLENGTH	Max Length of the Attributes value. This is needed only for the Attributes of String dataType	INTEGER NOT NULL
	TOBEMONITORED	Is the Attribute to be monitored or not.	BOOLEAN NOT NULL

9.	RULES	This table represents the User Defined Rules

	RULEID	Id representing the rule. This is the primary key for the Table	VARCHAR(32) NOT NULL
	RULENAME	Rule Name describing the rule	VARCHAR(128) NOT NULL
	CONTROLLERID	This is foreign key to the Monitors Table	VARCHAR(32) NOT NULL
	SEVERITY	Serverity of the Rule it can be either Warning or Error	VARCHAR(32) NOT NULL
	NOTIFICATIONMESSAGE	This is the message that will be used to notify the user when the rule gets violated	VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL

10.	RULEEXPRESSIONS	This table represents the expression which forms the rule

	RULEID	This is foreign key to the Rules Table	VARCHAR(32) NOT NULL
	CONDITION	Conditions for the Expression, it can be either Over or Under	VARCHAR(16) NOT NULL
	EXPVALUE	Threashold value of the Attribute	VARCHAR(32) NOT NULL
	STARTTIME	Marks the Start Time of the period during which to consider the rule for violation	VARCHAR(64)
	ENDTIME	Marks the End Time of the period during which to consider the rule for violation	VARCHAR(64)
	DURATION	Duration for which the expression should evaluate to true after which the Rule should be considered violated	INTEGER
	ATTRIBUTENAME	This is foreign key to the MonitorAttributes Table	TEXT NOT NULL

11.	ALERTS	This table represents the violated rule

	RULEID	This is foreign key to the Rules Table	VARCHAR(32) NOT NULL
	CONTROLLERID	This is foreign key to the Monitors Table	VARCHAR(32) NOT NULL
	SEVERITY	Serverity of the Rule it can be either Warning or Error	VARCHAR(32) NOT NULL
	STARTTIME	Time when the rule was violated	DATETIME NOT NULL
	ENDTIME	Time when the rule was resetted	DATETIME

12.	SNMPTRAPS	This table represents the traps received by various snmp Monitors

	SNMPTRAPID	Id representing the trap. This is the primary key for the Table	VARCHAR(32) NOT NULL
	HOSTORIPADDRESS	This is the host Name or the IPAddress from where th trap has got generated	VARCHAR(128) NOT NULL
	ALERTTYPE	Type of the Trap, Version1 or Version2	VARCHAR(128) NOT NULL
	RAISEDTIME	Time when the Trap was raised	DATETIME NOT NULL
	MESSAGE	Message recd with the Trap	TEXT
	DETAILS	Details of the Trap	TEXT

Column Properties

The following properties for the columns you have selected in the previous section can be changed.

Show: Select or clear the boxes on the left hand side of the column names to show or hide the respective columns.
Column Name: This is the name of the column in the database.
Column Heading: The Column Heading can be edited by double-clicking or by pressing F2 on the respective column heading and then typing into the field.
Section: You can control where a particular column will feature by selecting Details against the particular column and then choosing from the drop-down menu.
Function: You can select a function that has to be performed on this column. Choose from Count, Sum, Average, Lowest and Highest.
Note: If you choose a function for any column, you will not be able to use the 'Group By' feature in Grouping and Sorting as the columns are then grouped by the requirement of the function.
Column Values: You can see the values in the table columns by clicking here.
Display Properties: You can change the display properties for the report here.
Heading Properties: You can change the display properties for only the headings here.

Grouping

In this tab, set the grouping and sorting preferences.

Group On Columns: From the left hand side, select the column you want to include into the Group on Columns and then click the button marked with a >. Repeat this for all the columns you want to move to the right hand side list of Selected Columns.
Time based Grouping: Time based grouping is available when any monitor table is selected as they contain the datatimestamp column, which is required for time-based grouping.
Sort On Columns: From the left hand side, select the column you want to include into the Sort on Columns and then click button marked with a >. Repeat this for all the columns you want to move to the right hand side list of Selected Columns.

Note: Grouping is mandatory if you want to add a summary column in your report.

Filtering

AppPerfect Monitor Report designer wizard provides filtering options to display selective information in the generated reports. Following are the details of the filtering criteria.

Columns: Select a column and click the Add button on the right hand side to Define a New Filter based on the column. In the following new row added for this filter, select the Filter Expression from the drop-down menu and provide a Value for the filter. If you want the user of the report to provide this value, then select the checkbox "Prompt User for Value".

Use the Remove button to delete filters added to the table.

Column Summaries

From this tab, you can choose columns whose summaries you want to include in the report.

Columns: Select a column and click the Add button on the right hand side to define a new summary based on the column.

Let us look in detail at the table that shows the column you just added:

Column Name: The name of the column you have just added.
Display Properties: Click the Change button to edit the display properties of the Column, as you would like it to appear in the report. A new window opens up where you can set the font, effects, color, alignment and size for the column name.
Function Name: Here you have to provide the function that will be used on the summary value. Your options are: Sum, Count, Average, Lowest, Highest or Nothing. Nothing or no function is the default function selected. It will simply display the last value in the group for the column you have selected.
Reset: You can reset your report's summary value for every Report, Page, Column or Group.
Group By: Here you can select a column from the columns already set as 'Group by' columns for this report in the Grouping & Sorting step.
Show Group Header: Select this check box if you wish to display the Group Header. After each group's details, this header will be displayed in the report.
Label: This is the label for the summary that you have selected.
Label Properties: Click the Change...button to set the visual properties of the label. These include font, effects, color, alignment and size for the label.
Remove: Click on the Delete button to remove this column from the report.

Note 1: Grouping is mandatory if you want to add a summary column in your report.

Note 2: Summaries are only useful for numeric columns. Hence they are not provided for non-numeric columns.

Charts

In the chart tab of the report designer wizard select the Show Chart check box if a chart is to be displayed in the generated report to customize the display properties of the chart click Change. The following display properties of a chart can be customized

Chart Name: Specify a name for your chart.
Chart Title: Provide a title for your chart.
Add to Section: Use this drop-down menu to select where do you want your chart to appear in the report.
Width: Specify the width in pixels
Height: Specify the height in pixels
Show Legends checkbox: Select this if you want to display the legend along with the chart.
Show Grids checkbox: Select this if you want to display the gridlines in the chart.
Chart Type: Select the type of chart you want from Line, Bar, Timeseries and Pie chart radio buttons.
X-Axis Label: Provide a label for the X-axis.
Select Column: Use this drop-down menu to select the column whose data you want to plot on the X-axis.
Y-Axis Label: Provide a label for the Y-axis.
Columns: Select the columns you want to plot on the Y-axis by selecting and moving them one by one from the left hand side list to the right hand side list.

Security

The report designer wizard allows you to select the users and groups who can view the generated reports. The administrator can select which users are allowed to view the system reports from this tab. The creator of a report can also specify which users have the right to access their reports.

In the Available field select the users and click '>' similarly to remove user accesses to the generated reports in the Selected users field select the users and click '<'.

If an entire groups is be allowed access to the generated report in the Available group field, select the groups and click '>' to add them to the selected groups. Similarly to remove the access of groups to the generated reports in the Selected group field select the groups and click '<'.