Using Your Custom HTML Resource To Build A Better Way To Navigate Your Custom Views

This is a simple way to display, and navigate through, your custom views, rather than using the default "Manage Views" page.

**2018.09.25 | Updated Attachment to include a version with links to "Add New View", "Open Default Views Manager", "Add New Tab", and "Edit"**

Please see this post (below) for further details: https://thwack.solarwinds.com/docs/DOC-203485#comment-309767

Once again, mblackburn​ helped fix a bunch of my errors to get this working. I must have broken this thing in 5 different places, all of which he found and fixed in just minutes.

The best part about this is there is nothing to install, restart, break, bend, boil... Just a simple copy and paste into a default resource, functioning exactly as it was meant to function.

ESTIMATED TIME TO INSTALL/PERFORM MODIFICATION: <5 Minutes

DIFFICULTY LEVEL: 1-Youngling

1. Youngling(Easiest/Most Basic; no coding experience required, no config wizard required, no system restart required, no system downtime.)
2. Padawan (Easy/Basic; no coding experience required, possible config wizard required, possible system/services restart required, limited/no downtime.)
3. Jedi Knight (Moderately Difficult/Advanced; some coding experience required/recommended, config wizard required, possible system/services restart required, limited/short duration downtime.)
4. Jedi Master (Most Difficult/Advanced; advanced coding experience required, config wizard required, system/services restarts required, 30+ minutes downtime/maintenance window recommended, and other things that I do not even know I would need to know, required...)

This mod was performed on the following SolarWinds environment/versions: (It may, or may not work on other versions)

Orion Platform 2018.2 HF5, NCM 7.8, DPAIM 11.1.0, NPM 12.3, VMAN 8.2.1 HF1, NetPath 1.1.3, CloudMonitoring 2.0.1, SAM 6.6.1 1999-2018 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

WHAT DO YOU NEED?

1. Access to manage views in your Orion environment
2. The "Custom HTML" resource added to a view
3. A working method to copy text from the attached file
4. A working method to paste text, copied in #3 above, into a custom HTML resource, from #2 above.

Before we begin, (while the following is certainly a good practice, it actually doesn't apply to this customization, for once.)

PLEASE don't edit the system files/database without backing them up first.

If you see a friend or co-worker making changes without backing up first, please alert the authorities.

Friends don't let friends mod without backups.

"If it's not broke, then fix it until it is."

     -The smartest person ever

STEPS:

     -Download/Open the attached file.

     -Login to you Orion environment.

          -Navigate to the "Custom HTML" resource you want to display the views.

               -Click edit.

     -Copy the contents of the attached file.

     -Paste the contents of the attached file into the "Custom HTML" resource you have opened to edit.

     -Click to save the resource edit.

     -Enjoy you new way to navigate throughout your views/pages.

Here is a screenshot of the default "Manage Views" page. You can add, edit, copy, and delete.

While those are great actions to take, it's the navigation through all of the pages that has always bothered me.

In fact, here are a couple of methods I have used in the past to make things a little easier.

Custom SWQL Views Manager

Custom SWQL Views Manager Resource

In this new method, we have some JavaScript code we are going to drop into a custom HTML resource/widget, which will then show us our custom views (non-system/non-default). Additionally, the views will be grouped by the "ViewGroupName", and a count of how many pages each group contains will be displayed off to the side.

Now, we can easily see how many different pages/tabs each viewgroup contains. Off to the right hand side, we see a big blank area. Before anyone brings out the pitchforks, hear me out. I am the president of the "I hate empty, wasted, white space on my page" fan club, and I assure you, this space will not be wasted.

Clicking on one of the viewgroups to the left will actually populate all of the views/tabs within that viewgroup. For example, the "Testing_Will" viewgroup has 19 tabs. Once I click on the row for "Testing_Will", that empty space populates with links to all of the pages within that group.

Clicking on a different row will change the data displayed on the right side of the resource. You will only ever see the pages related to the group you are interested in viewing. Each of the "ViewTitle" links should open in a new tab once clicked.

This method was not intended to be a showstopper, or anything of grand design. The purpose is simply to make it easier to narrow down pages, using minimal screen real estate.

Possible enhancements: Page Thumbnails, Search, Management Functionality (Edit, Copy, Delete), Create New Page, etc. (Edit and New could be added very easily, as they are simply URLs.) (I have added the Edit and Create New links to an updated version of this mod.)

Here is another example of using a similar JavaScript method, via the custom HTML resource, to display your data differently.

Using Your Custom HTML Resource To Properly Display SWQL Query Results

Again, it's not rocket surgery or anything fancy, just a different way to view the same data. What will you do with your resource? Please post below and let us know.

For more ways to customize your SolarWinds environment, make sure to check out this link, by CourtesyIT​

How to do various customizations with your Solarwinds

Thank you,

-Will