SAP Basis Notes: Variables in Group Names

A group name determines the title of the corresponding column or row in Central Performance History (CPH) reports. In many cases, it would be practical to be able to use variable values for these titles, such as the system or instance to which the relevant performance values belong.

The variables below exist for this purpose. You can insert them anywhere in the group names, and they are replaced by the respective values of the variables at the runtime of the report. The following variables exist:

Variable	Meaning
$SYS	System ID
$CTX	Name of the monitoring context
$OBJ	Name of the monitoring object
$ATT	Name of the monitoring attribute
$MTC	Name of the MTE class

In addition, simple text processing functions are available to you, to display only certain parts of the variable value.

Example 1: Availability of Systems

Note

For a general description of creating an appropriate definition, see Creating a Report Definition; only the assignment of the desired group name using variables is described here. To specify possible variables, choose This graphic is explained in the accompanying text (Add Variable).

You are storing the availability of systems in the CPH. You want to create a relevant report definition, in which the system IDs of the monitored systems appear as the titles of the corresponding rows containing the availability values.

This is not generically possible without variables in the group name. The availability of a monitored system is stored in a performance attribute in the central monitoring system (CEN); this node has the following values for the variables specified above:

Variable	Value
System
Monitoring context	Availability
Monitoring object	Availability:
Monitoring attribute	Availability
MTE class	Availability_SysPercent

Note

You have the following options for finding out these values:

· Select the relevant MTE in the Alert Monitor and choose Properties. The values are displayed in the field Properties of and MTE Class.

· Start transaction RZ23N, and choose the Overview of Available Data button. Search for the desired entry.

The required information is therefore in the monitoring object, that is, you choose the variable $OBJ Object name. Since you do not require the name part Availability: as a title, select the checkbox Text to exclude, and enter Availability: in the associated input field.

The system converts these specifications, and displays the text $OBJ{!"Availability:"} in the input field Group Name.

Example 2: Dialog Response Time of Instances

You are storing the dialog response times of instances in the CPH. You want to create a relevant report definition, in which the instance names appear as the titles of the corresponding rows containing the response times.

Although the instance name is also displayed without using variables in the group name, it is not displayed in the desired way (see Displaying Reports of the Central Performance History):

· In the two-dimensional display type, a large amount of information that is not desired is displayed in the row title, such as
1: Response Time (PR1/Host01_PR1_37/Dialog/ResponseTime).

· In the one-dimensional display type, the instance name is only displayed as a quick info.

To display the instance name as the group name, you must first determine the values for the variables for the dialog response time, as above:

Variable	Value
System
Monitoring context
Monitoring object	Dialog
Monitoring attribute	ResponseTime
MTE class	R3DialogResponseTime

The required information is therefore in the monitoring context in this case; that is, you choose the variable $CTX Context name. The system converts this specification, and displays the text $CTX in the input field Group Name.

Note

You can also enter the variable name directly in the Group Name input field.

Entering the Variables Directly in the Input Field

As of SAP Web AS 6.40, a wizard with which you can simply enter and manipulate variables is available through the button This graphic is explained in the accompanying text (Add Variable). However, it is possible in principle to integrate variables in the group name as of Support Package 30 for SAP Web AS 6.20. In this release, however, you must enter the variables directly in the Group Name. Use the following syntax for this:

$[{, ...}]

$ stands for the valid variables $SYS, $CTX, $OBJ, $ATT, or $MTC.

You can use > to select or exclude individual parts of the variable value. In this case, the character strings that result from the different expressions are connected together.

In detail, you have the following options:

Expression	Meaning
a-b	Displays only the part of the variable value from the a-th character to the b-th character
a-	Displays only the part of the variable value from the a-th character
-a	Displays only the part of the variable value to the a-th character
""	Displays only the part of the variable value that corresponds to
${, …}	Displays only the part of the variable value that corresponds to the content of this character string
!	Negates the following expression; in this way, !4- means that the value of the variables as of the fourth character are not to be displayed