User Operation

A User Operation event trigger executes when a user, using the Management Portal, selects the user operation identifier, fills in the user operation's parameters and selects execute for the user operation.

Using the Management Portal, a user can select a user operation to execute on one gateway.
If multiple gateways have the same user operation defined, a user can choose to execute the user operation on any number of the gateways at the same time.

Defining a user operation event trigger

To define a user operation event trigger, follow these steps:

1. From the Workbench left pane, expand the node where you want to define the user operation event trigger.
   
2. Select the Project icon to display the Projects window, right-click a specific project tab to display its pop-up menu, and then select New.
   You also can select the New button at the bottom of the Projects window when a specific project tab has already been selected.
   
3. The new Trigger window appears.
   Name the trigger. The trigger name can be up to 64 characters and include letters, numbers, and the underscore character. Spaces are allowed.
   
4. From the Event tab, select the Trigger Event Type down-arrow, and then select User Operation.
   
   The Event tab becomes active with parameters that accommodate the user operation event.
   

Adding properties to the User Interface window

The User Interface window is used to define each property, and its characteristics, that will be part of the user interface displayed in the Management Portal.

When you select the Configure... button, the User Interface window is displayed.

The window defaults to one property section; however, you can add as many sections as you need for the user operation. You can also reorder the property sections.

• The green plus icon will add another property section after the current section.
• The red X icon will delete the current property section.
• The blue up or down arrow icons are used to reorder the sections.

The following describes the properties parameters:

Properties parameter	Description
Name	This name will appear as a property name on the User Operation window. For example, InputVariableInt.
Type	Provides a drop-down list to select the data type property. The data type can be: integer - a numeric value without a fractional part. float - a numeric value with a fractional part. string - a descriptive string such as a part name or serial number. check - a True or False option. The user will select to turn the feature on or off. combo - a list from which the user can select an item. When Combo is selected, an Options parameter appears into which you can type the list of items.
Default Value	Optional. This value is used as a default value for the property. The user can decide to use the default or change the value when executing the user operation.
Key	This is a unique value to identify this property. For example, InputVarKey. The key name becomes available as an event variable for the trigger.
Min	This parameter only appears when integer or float are selected for the Type parameter. The value is the lowest number this property will accept.
Max	This parameter only appears when integer or float are selected for the Type parameter. The value is the highest number this property will accept.
Options	This parameter only appears when combo is selected for the Type parameter. A list of items that will appear in the combo drop-down list can be entered. Each item must be separated by a comma.

User operation event type trigger event variables

The input event variables available to a user operation event trigger are:

Event variable	Data type	Description
Who	STRING	The first and last name of the user who executed the user operation from the Management Portal.
Property key	The data type of the property	For each property added to the user interface, the property key parameter will be an event variable.

An example of the event variables for a user operation event trigger is:

The corresponding user interface displayed in the Management Portal for this example user operation is:

User operation event considerations

• The state of the user operation event trigger is communicated from the gateway to the Management Portal.
  When a user operation event trigger is Started, its parameter and properties information is sent to the Management Portal and it is listed as an available user operation for the gateway.
  Similarly, when a user operation is Stopped, this information is sent to the Management Portal and it is removed from the list of available user operations for the gateway.
  In order to use the user operation from the Management Portal, the trigger (and its project) must be Started.
• In the Management Portal, each gateway's details page will list the available user operations for that gateway in the right hand side.
  For example:
  
• The user operation's Operation Name and the sum of its properties are used to create a unique internal identifier for the user operation.
• A user of the Management Portal can select multiple gateways from the Gateways tab and then select a user operation to execute on each of the selected gateways.
  In order for this to function as expected, the user operation's unique internal identifier from each of the selected gateways must be the same. The easiest way to accomplish this is to define the user operation on one gateway, then export the user operation and import it into the other gateways.