Understanding the User Interface

Your user interface is a browser-based application called Automic Web Interface (short AWI). AWI gives you access to all the program areas and functions that you need. The interface provides all standard web browser functions plus multiple proprietary navigation features. It is divided in perspectives. A perspective is an area that contains the functions to which a particular user role should have access. The look and feel of all perspectives follows a similar design pattern:

  • Menu bar

    You navigate through its interactive elements from left to right/right to left.

  • Left navigation pane

    It contains expandable menus that let you open folders, objects, object definition pages and so forth. You navigate through these elements from top to bottom/bottom to top.

  • Main content area in the middle of the screen

    Here you configure and perform actions on objects, tasks, monitors and so forth.

  • Right navigation area

    It contains filters, detailed views, object/ task properties and so forth. You navigate through these elements from top to bottom/bottom to top.

Tips:

Important! Check Broadcom Software Academy. There is a course available for this topic. For more information, see the Education section at the end of this page.

This topic describes the design pattern and the UI elements of the Automic Web Interface:

Menu Bar

The menu bar is the top ribbon that is immediately below the browser toolbar. This screenshot shows the menu bar of a user with privileges to work in all perspectives. In your case, you will have access to the perspectives that you are entitled to:

Screenshot of the menu bar where its elements are grouped in categories based on their functions. Each category has a number that will be explained later in a list. The categories are numbered as follows: 1 customizable logo, 2 Home icon, 3 perspectives, 4 search area, 5 notification area, 6 help button, 7 session information.

The menu bar is common to all components and plugins. It gives you access to the following areas and functions:

  1. Customizable logo

  2. Home icon. Click it to open the Dashboards perspective.

  3. Perspectives

    The menu bar shows the perspectives to which you have access according to your user rights and privileges.

  4. Search area

    The global search is the fastest way to search for objects, object dependencies and tasks.

  5. Notification area

    If there are requests that you must attend to, the bell icon indicates the number of requests. If there are messages providing information on the status of your processes, the messages icon indicates their urgency. Click the icons to open the Requests view or the Messages pane.

  6. Help button

    Click it to open a dropdown menu with links to the following:

    • Help

      Opens the context-sensitive help. Depending on where you are in the user interface, the help opens to the topic that explains it.

    • Keyboard Shortcuts

      Opens the product documentation to the Keyboard Shortcuts topic, where you can find the list and description of AWI's keyboard shortcuts..

    • Getting Started

      Opens the Dashboard view where videos and links provide information that is specific to this version of Automic Automation.

    • Learning Portal

      Opens the Broadcom Software Academy, where you can find many courses about Automic Automation and other Broadcom solutions.

  7. Session information and user settings

    User, Automation Engine system and Client information.

    The user can be displayed in two different ways, depending on how your user is configured DX Operational Intelligence:

    • If it contains your first and last names (both are optional), they are displayed here
    • Otherwise, your username and department are displayed

    Click the adjacent arrow to expand a dropdown list with options to define your user settings, to see information about your connection and to access some more useful functions.

For more information, see:

Browser Tabs

Browser tabs are the markers that identify the pages that have been opened in a browser window. For example:

Screenshot showing two browser tabs.

The browser tabs of your system provide all standard browser functions plus the following features:

  • Session information

    You can open as many objects, lists, tasks and monitors open as you want in new browser tabs. To identify them at a glance, hover your mouse over the browser tab. A tooltip displays the following information :

    Title (<connection>: client number | user/department | Automic Web Interface)

    Example:

    Screenshot of a tooltip in an AWI browser caption.

    The Title can be one of the following:

    • In the Dashboards perspective, the name of the Dashboard that is selected in the left navigation pane

    • In the Process Assembly perspective

      • Name of the folder that is selected in the Explorer
      • Name of the object that is displayed

    • In the Process Monitoring perspective

      • Name of the grouping criterion that is selected in the left navigation pane
      • If a monitor is displayed, name of the task

    • In Executions lists, the type of list that the pages contains (Executions, Parent Task Executions, Child Task Executions)

    • In the Administration perspective

      • Name of the object or view that is selected in the left navigation pane
      • Name of the object that is displayed

  • Unsaved changes

    When you make changes to an object or task, an asterisk is displayed in the browser tab. It indicates that there are unsaved changes. If you try to close a tab or to log out without saving the changes, a dialog is displayed that prompts you to decide what to do.

    Screenshot of a browser tab that contains a Schedle object whose name is JSCHDATAWAREHOUSE. An asterisk is displayed next to the name of the Schedule.

  • Connection color

    When you log in to your system, you can select the color that you want to assign to your connection. The icon in the browser tab and in the web notifications as well as the horizontal bar over the menu bar use the color that you have chosen. This color helps you recognize at a glance which browser tabs and windows belong to the same session. This is particularly useful if you work with several connections simultaneously (for example, if you log in to several Clients at the same time).

For more information, see New Connection and Connection Color.

Title Bar

The title bar is the ribbon that is displayed immediately below the menu bar when you open an object, a task, a list, and so forth. The title bar shows the information you need to identify the item that is currently open.

Example of the title bar of a Workflow:

Screenshot showing part of the title bar where the icon and the name of a Workflow are displayed.

Depending on the item that is displayed, title bars contain the following information:

Objects

  • Name
  • Title (if available)

Monitors

  • Name
  • Title (if available)
  • RunID

Execution Lists

  • Type of list (Executions, Parent Executions, Child Executions, Activator Executions)
  • Name of the task
  • Number of records that are displayed
  • Timestamp of the latest update

Reports

  • Name of the task
  • RunID of the execution

Advanced Search

  • Number of objects found
  • Time of the latest index update

For more information, see:

Inline Notifications

In some cases, an inline message is displayed below the title bar that informs you of potential restrictions to what you are doing. This screenshot illustrates it:

Screenshot of the additional bar indicating that the object is saved in Client 0

Examples:

  • Saved in Client 0

    Some objects are stored and maintained centrally in Client 0 and are available for selection in the combo boxes of all other Clients. These objects are typically managed by administrator users and they are valid for the entire installation. Developers and object designers can select and use them when they are defining an object. However, they cannot edit them. Login (LOGIN), Connection (CONN) and Time Zone (TZ) objects are examples of these objects.

    When you open one of these objects from a Client other than 0, they are in read-only mode. The inline notification informs you of it.

  • Inactive Client

    Developers and object designers can configure objects no matter whether the Client they are logged in to is active or inactive. However, if the Client is inactive, automatic processing is not possible. If you try to execute an object, it gets the STOP - Client-wide stop of automatic processing status.
    When you open a Client that is still inactive, the inline message indicates that processing is not possible.

    Exception: You can manually start a Queue in a Client that is inactive. If you do so, you can execute manually certain object types, for example Scripts.

Toolbar

Many lists and views have a toolbar with buttons that give you quick access to the most important functions available to the object, task, list or report that is displayed. For example:

Screenshot showing a toolbar where the following buttons are available: Edit, Save, Execute, Executions, Last Report and More.

Panes

Lists and views have resizable panes.

  • The left pane lets you navigate through the content of the list or view. You can do the following:

    • Click an item to open the list/view in the same browser window.

    • Middle-click an item to open it in a new browser window.

    • Right-click an item to open a context menu with either the same options as standard browser links provide (Open link in new tab, Open link in new window, Save link as, an so forth) or with AWI-specific options (Open, Move, and so forth).

    This image shows the left pane in the Process Assembly perspective; by right-clicking the DASHBOARDS folder, a context menu is displayed:

    Screenshot of the left pane in the Process Assembly perspective; the user has right-clicked on a folder and the context menu shows the corresponding AWI functions (Open, Move, Clone Folder, and so forth)

    Note: The left pane on object pages lets you navigate through the various definition pages (General, Runtime, Attributes, and so forth). When you open an object and navigate through those pages, then close it and you open it again later, the object opens to the page that you last visited. AWI saves this information in your user settings per Client. For more information, see Defining Objects.

  • Right pane

    The right pane, when available, provides information such as details about the selected item (object, task or execution), filter options, and so on.

Version and Support Information

When you contact the support team, you must provide information about the version of your system and of your plug-ins. You access this information from the drop-down menu at the right corner of the menu bar.

  1. Open the drop-down list.
  2. Select About. A dialog displays the relevant information about your installation.

This dialog also gives you direct access to some useful sites and pieces of information:

  • Customer portal
  • CA Automic website

For more information, see Files to Aid Technical Support.

Variable Icon

Many input fields and combo boxes can be populated with variables and VARA objects (which are a special kind of variables). The user interface displays an icon whenever using variables is possible. For example:

Click the icon to open a dialog where you can select the variable.

Education

The Broadcom Software Academy provides a wide range of free online trainings. For information about how to navigate through the Academy and on how to register for courses, see Free Online Courses.

The following course(s) are associated with this topic:

See also: