Custom Actions

Standard actions are available to AAI users from Action menus on the various pages and views. As an administrator or business area coordinator, you can create additional, custom actions that you want to be available to users on the actions menus  when they are working with jobstreams or jobs. This topic explains how to create custom actions and where they appear to users when working with jobs or jobstreams in AAI.

This page includes the following:

As any AAI user, when you see a three-dot, vertical ellipses () button next to an object, you can click it to open an Action menu that lists actions that you can take on the object. Each action menu offers menu options for standard actions that are relevant for the object. As an administrator, specifically an Admin user in the default JAWS domain, you can create additional, custom actions to appear on the menus.

Not that this capability is available for jobs and jobstreams only.

The structure of a custom action is basically an action string defined by a URL that launches a relevant web page in a new browser tab. The URL can optionally include parameters based on properties of the specific job or jobstream from which the Action menu was opened and the action selected. This way the custom action can pass the specific property values to the invoked web page.

When you, as an Admin user, create a custom action, you can insert properties into the URL for the action from three categories. When the URL contains parameters for certain properties, the custom action will appear only in the Action menus for the related object type. The categories are as follows.

• Job parameters are job properties that are irrelevant to which jobstream the job might run in.

  Custom actions that contain Job parameters appear as options in the Action menu for a job on the Gantt Timeline.

• Jobstream parameters are properties of the jobstream or its target job.

  Custom actions that contain Jobstream parameters appear on the Action menus in the following places:

  • Jobstream Definitions

  • Jobstream Runs - Timeline view

• Jobs in Jobstream parameters are properties of a job, the jobstream it runs in, or the specific jobstream run it is invoked from.

  Custom actions that contain Jobs in Jobstream parameters appear as options in the Action menu for a job on the Gantt Timeline.

If the URL contains none of these parameters, then the custom action will appear in all of the related Action menus: the Gantt timeline, the Jobstream Definitions page, and the Jobstream Runs - Timeline view.

For a list of all the custom action parameters and the categories they appear under, see Parameters for Custom Actions.

Examples of Custom Actions

Custom actions can allow you to easily integrate the data that your users discover in AAI into your company processes. This can both save time and ensure accuracy of data communication. The following are some examples of such custom actions:

• Open ticket, an action to open a trouble ticket with the job name, jobstream name, and relevant run data

• Go to documentation, an action to open a tab with the documentation on the specific job that action was triggered on

• Terminate job, an action to open a tab pointing to your workload automation scheduler page where a job can be terminated

• Escalate, an action to send notification about a problem with a job or jobstream run to the next level of support

You see the custom actions that you can trigger listed among the options on the action menus on the corresponding pages in AAI. However, you see the definitions behind the custom actions that are visible to you on the Custom Actions list.

For admin users, this is also where you add, edit, and delete custom actions. For all other users, the list on the page is for your information only.

To access the Custom Actions page

1. In the left navigation pane, select Settings, then Custom Actions.

The Custom Actions page contains a table that lists the custom actions that are visible to you.

For each custom action, the following data columns are available:

• Name: The name of the action. This is how the action appears on the respective action menus (always with initial capitalization).

  If you are an admin user (in a JAWS domain) to the right of each action name in this column, you see an action menu, from which you can edit or delete the action.

• URL: The URL that is invoked when the action is selected from an action menu. It contains the IP address and location followed by any parameters that were added for the job or jobstream data that is relevant to the invoked web page. This column is not sortable.

• Actions Available To: Who can see the custom action in the related action menus. This value is either Everyone or Admin.

  If you are an admin user (in a JAWS domain) you can see both kinds of actions. For all other users, you only see the actions for Everyone, and you can only view the definition information on this page.

• Actions Visible In: Whether the custom action contains parameters related to jobs, jobstreams, or jobs in jobstreams. This also affects in which actions menus the action appears in. If nothing is in the column, then no specific parameters are add to the URL, and the action appears on all job and jobstream action menus.

• Last Update Time: The date and time the custom action definition was last updated, in your preferred time zone.

All columns are always visible and cannot be hidden. However, you can sort all but the URL column and rearrange any of the columns as you need. For information, see Working with Tables.

Only users with admin rights in the JAWS domain can add, edit, or delete custom actions.

To create a custom action

1. In the left navigation pane, select Settings, then Custom Actions.

2. Click the + Add New button.

3. In the New Custom Action dialog, enter a Name for the action. This is the name of the action as it appears as an option on the related actions menus. It must be unique within you AAI instance and cannot be changed later when editing the action.

4. Type the URL for the web page that should be invoked with the action is selected by a user. Alternatively, you can paste in a URL that you have copied to your clipboard.

5. If you want this action to be available on the respective menus to Admin users only, select the Requires Admin privilege checkbox. Otherwise, the action will be available to all users (Everyone).

6. Optionally, insert job, jobstream, and run properties as parameters in the URL that you want to pass on to the invoked web page.

   When a user invokes the custom action, the values for the parameters from the job or jobstreams from which a user invokes the custom action will be added to the URL string.

   1. Put the cursor at the place in the URL string that you want to add the parameter.

   2. Under Show parameters appropriate for a:, find a parameter in one of two ways:

      • Use the search field to enter any number of characters that are somewhere in the parameter name. This can be a string in the actual parameter name or its descriptive name. The sections that contain matching parameters open showing those parameters. Each parameter is listed in this format: {parameterName} Descriptive Name.

      • Open the section with the parameter you want (Jobs, Jobstreams, or Jobs in Jobstreams) and scroll to find the parameter.

      For a list of all parameters, see Parameters for Custom Actions.

   3. Click the parameter name to add it to the URL.

   4. Continue to add parameters as you need. Also type characters that go before or after the parameters in the URL string, as needed.

7. Click the Add button.  

Only users with admin rights in the JAWS domain can add, edit, or delete custom actions.

To edit a custom action

1. In the left navigation pane, select Settings, then Custom Actions.

2. To the right of the Name of the action that you want to edit, click the three-dot, vertical ellipses () to open the Action menu, and select Edit.

3. To change who can see and use the custom action, select or de-select the Requires Admin privilege checkbox, depending on whether you want the action to be available to Admin users onlyor to all users (Everyone), respectively.

4. Edit the URL by typing the edits to the URL string, or highlighting the current URL and pasting changes that you copied to your clipboard.

5. Optionally, insert job, jobstream, and run properties as parameters in the URL that you want to pass on to the invoked web page.

   When a user invokes the custom action, the values for the parameters from the job or jobstreams from which a user invokes the custom action will be added to the URL string.

   1. Put the cursor at the place in the URL string that you want to add the parameter.

   2. Under Show parameters appropriate for a:, find a parameter in one of two ways:

      • Use the search field to enter any number of characters that are somewhere in the parameter name. This can be a string in the actual parameter name or its descriptive name. The sections that contain matching parameters open showing those parameters. Each parameter is listed in this format: {parameterName} Descriptive Name.

      • Open the section with the parameter you want (Jobs, Jobstreams, or Jobs in Jobstreams) and scroll to find the parameter.

      For a list of all parameters, see Parameters for Custom Actions.

   3. Click the parameter name to add it to the URL.

   4. Continue to add parameters as you need. Also type characters that go before or after the parameters in the URL string, as needed.

6. Click the Save button.