PATROL Adapter for Microsoft User Guide - BMC Communities ...

PATROL ® Adapter for 

Microsoft Office 

User Guide 

Version 1.1 

May 31, 2000

Copyright © 1999-2000 BMC Software, Inc., as an unpublished work. All rights reserved. 

BMC Software, the BMC Software logos, and all other BMC Software product or service names are registered 

trademarks or trademarks of BMC Software, Inc. All other registered trademarks or trademarks belong to their 

respective companies. 

PATROL technology holds U.S. Patent Number 5655081. 

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Before Contacting BMC Software 

Before you contact BMC Software, have the following information available so that a technical support analyst 

can begin working on your problem immediately: 

• product information 

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— license number and password (trial or permanent) 

• operating-system and environment information 

— machine type 

— operating system type, version, and service pack or program temporary fix (PTF) 

— system hardware configuration 

— serial numbers 

— related software (database, application, and communication) including type, version, and service pack or 

PTF 

• sequence of events leading to the problem 

• commands and options that you used 

• messages received (and the time and date that you received them) 

— product error messages 

— messages from the operating system, such as file system full 

— messages from related software 

iii

iv PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office User Guide 

BMC Software, Inc., Confidential and Proprietary Information

Contents 


Contents 

About This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi 

Chapter 1 Product Components and Capabilities 

PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office Components . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2 

Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3 

Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-5 

Supported Platforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-6 

Known Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-7 

Chapter 2 Getting Started With the PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office and 

the PATROL Report Wizard 

Installing the PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2 

Adding the PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office Shortcut to Microsoft 

Excel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3 

Configuring PATROL to Generate Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-4 

Preloading Knowledge Modules on an Agent Without a PATROL 

Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-5 

Setting History and Event Retention for a PATROL Agent From a 

PATROL Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-6 

Starting the PATROL Report Wizard From Microsoft Excel . . . . . . 2-8 

Launching PATROL Reports From a PATROL Console . . . . . . . . . . 2-9 

Starting the PATROL Report Generator Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-10 

Accessing Online Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-10 

Chapter 3 Generating Reports With the PATROL Report Wizard 

Connecting to Hosts Using the PATROL Report Wizard . . . . . . 3-2 

Generating Predefined Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-4 

Generating Custom Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-7 

Contents v

Creating and Adding Your Own Predefined Reports . . . . . . . . .3-16 

Saving Reports as a Microsoft Excel File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3-21 

Saving a Report in HTML Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3-22 

Saving Report Templates to a File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3-25 

Importing Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3-26 

Updating Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3-27 

Chapter 4 Generating Reports With the PATROL Report Generator Utility 

PATROL Report Generator Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4-2 

Generating Reports Using the Report Generator Interface . . . . 4-3 

Generating Reports From a Command Line or Batch File . . . . .4-8 

Generating Reports in Batch Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4-12 

Accessing Online Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4-14 

Chapter 5 Using PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office VBA Objects in Your VB 

or VBA Programs 

Creating Programs With PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office . . .5-2 

Launching the Visual Basic Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5-3 

Including the Object Library in VB or VBA Programs . . . . . . . .5-3 

Creating a PATROL Agent Host Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5-4 

Summary of COM Server VBA Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5-5 

PATROL Hosts Collection Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5-5 

PATROL Agent Host Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5-7 

PATROL Applications Collection Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5-13 

PATROL Application Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5-14 

PATROL Application Instances Collection Object . . . . . . . . . . .5-18 

PATROL Application Instance Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5-20 

PATROL Parameters Collection Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5-24 

PATROL Parameter Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5-25 

History Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5-31 

PATROL History Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5-32 

PATROL Events Collection Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5-33 

PATROL Event Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5-33 

Sample Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5-37 

Displaying the States of Hosts in a Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5-37 

Accessing Host Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5-38 

Retrieving History Information for a Host . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5-40 

Reporting the Number of Events That Occur Within a Specific Time 

Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5-41 

Index 

vi PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office User Guide 


Figures 


Figures 

Figure 2-1 PATROL Installation Instructions Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2 

Figure 2-2 PATROL Products Selection Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3 

Figure 3-1 Add Host Connection Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-2 

Figure 3-2 Add Host Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-3 

Figure 3-3 Select Host Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-5 

Figure 3-4 Save Connection Information Checkbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-5 

Figure 3-5 Select Predefined Report Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-6 



Figure 3-8 Select Predefined Report Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-8 



Figure 3-11 Select CUSTOM REPORT Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-12 

Figure 3-12 Select Host Objects Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-13 

Figure 3-13 Report Schedule and Average Options Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-14 

Figure 3-14 Report Grouping Options Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-15 


Figure 3-16 Report Template Wizard Properties Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-17 

Figure 3-17 Report Template Host Objects Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-18 

Figure 3-18 Report Template Schedule and Average Options Screen . . . . . . 3-19 

Figure 3-19 Report Template Grouping Options Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-20 


Figure 3-21 Create/Save Step Shortcut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-23 

Figure 3-22 Save report in HTML format Checkbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-23 

Figure 4-1 PATROL Report Generator Utility Display Options. . . . . . . . . . 4-4 

Figure 4-2 PATROL Report Generator Utility Schedule Options. . . . . . . . . 4-6 

Figure 4-3 Sample Batch Program for Saving a Report To an HTML File . 4-13 

Figures vii

viii PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office User Guide 


Tables 


Tables 

Table 1-1 Supported Platforms for PATROL Adapter for Microsoft 

Office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-6 

Table 3-1 PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office Report Types . . . . . . . . . 3-12 

Table 3-2 PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office Report Types . . . . . . . . . 3-18 

Table 4-1 PATROL Report Generator Utility GUI Command Arguments . 4-3 

Table 4-2 PATROL Report Generator Utility Report Types . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-5 

Table 4-3 PATROL Report Generator Utility Silent Command Arguments 4-8 

Table 4-4 -add and -group Dependencies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-11 

Table 4-5 Sample Batch Program Argument Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-13 

Tables ix

x PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office User Guide 


About This Book 


About . . . 

This book contains detailed information about PATROL Adapter for 

Microsoft Office ® and is intended for system administrators. Use this 

book with the appropriate user guide for your Console. 

This book also contains instructions for loading and configuring 

PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office. For more details, refer to the 

online Help for PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office. 

Note 

This book assumes that you are familiar with your host operating system. 

You should know how to perform basic actions in a window 

environment, such as choosing menu commands and dragging and 

dropping icons. 

xi

How This Book Is Organized 

This book is organized as follows. In addition, an index appears at the 

end of the book. 

Chapter/Appendix Number 

and Title Description 

Chapter 1, “Product Components 

and Capabilities” 

Chapter 2, “Getting Started With 

the PATROL Adapter for Microsoft 

Office and the PATROL Report 

Wizard” 

Chapter 3, “Generating Reports 

With the PATROL Report Wizard” 

Chapter 4, “Generating Reports 

With the PATROL Report Generator 

Utility” 

Related Documentation 

BMC Software products offer several types of documentation: 

• online and printed books 

• online Help 

• release notes 

Online and Printed Books 

The books that accompany BMC Software products are available in 

online format and printed format. You can view online books with 

Acrobat Reader from Adobe Systems. The reader is provided at no cost, 

as explained in “To Access Online Books.” You can also obtain 

additional printed books from BMC Software, as explained in “To 

Request Additional Printed Books.” 

xii PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office User Guide 

provides an overview of the features and components of the 

PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office 

describes how to set up and launch the PATROL Adapter for 


describes how to generate and save reports using the PATROL 

Adapter for Microsoft Office Report Wizard 

describes how to generate and save reports using the PATROL 

Adapter for Microsoft Office Report Generator Utility 


To Access Online Books 


You can access online books from the documentation compact disc (CD) 

that accompanies your product or from the World Wide Web. 

Accessing Books with Acrobat Reader 

Online books are formatted as Portable Document Format (PDF) files. 

You can view them, print them, or copy them to your computer by using 

Acrobat Reader 3.0 or later. 

Note 

In some cases, installation of Acrobat Reader and downloading the 

online books is an optional part of the product-installation process. For 

information about downloading the free reader from the Web, go to the 

Adobe Systems site at http://www.adobe.com. For information about 

installing the reader from the documentation CD, see the readme.txt file 

on the CD. 

Accessing Books on the Web 

To access any online book that BMC Software offers, visit the support 

page of the BMC Software Web site at http://www.bmc.com/support.html. 

Note 

To use the support page, you must be a registered user or have a 

temporary user name and a password. 

If you are a registered user, proceed as follows: 

1. Go to http://www.bmc.com/support.html. 

2. Click Product Directory under the SUPPORT CENTER - Login 

Required heading. 

3. Enter your user ID and password when prompted. 

4. To view books for a particular product, click the product name in the 

Product Directory. 

xiii

To Request Additional Printed Books 

Online Help 

Release Notes 

5. Select the book that you want to view. 

If you are not a registered user, choose one of the following options: 

• To register, go to http://www.bmc.com/support.html, click First Time 

Users, complete the form, and click Submit Registration. 

When you receive confirmation of your registration by e-mail, you 

can then access books on the Web. 

• To request a temporary user name and a password, contact your 

BMC Software sales representative. 

BMC Software provides a core set of printed books with your product 

order. To request additional books, go to 

http://www.bmc.com/support.html. 

You can access Help for a product through the product’s Help menu. The 

online Help provides information about the product’s graphical user 

interface (GUI) and provides instructions for completing tasks. 

Printed release notes accompany each BMC Software product on the 

documentation CD. Release notes provide up-to-date information such as 

• updates to the installation instructions 

• last-minute product information 

The latest versions of the release notes are also available on the Web at 

http://www.bmc.com/support.html. 

xiv PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office User Guide 


Conventions 


The following conventions are used in this book: 

• This book includes special elements called notes: 

Note 

Notes provide additional information about the current subject. 

• All syntax, operating system terms, and 

literal examples are presented in this 

typeface. 

• In instructions, boldface type highlights information that you enter. 

File names, directories, and Web addresses also appear in boldface 

type. 

• The symbol => connects items in a menu sequence. For example, 

Actions => Create Test instructs you to choose the Create Test 

command from the Actions menu. 

• The symbol» denotes one-step instructions. 

• In syntax, path names, or system messages, italic text represents a 

variable, as shown in the following examples: 

The table table_name is not available. 

system/instance/file_name 

• In syntax, the following additional conventions apply: 

— A vertical bar ( | ) separating items indicates that you must 

choose one item. In the following example, you would choose a, 

b, or c: 

a | b | c 

xv

— An ellipsis ( . . . ) indicates that you can repeat the preceding 

item or items as many times as necessary. 

— Square brackets ( [ ] ) around an item indicate that the item is 

optional. 

• The following table shows equivalent mouse buttons for Unix users 

and Windows NT users: 

Unix Button Windows NT Button Description 

MB1 left mouse button Click this button on an icon or 

menu command to select that 

icon or command. Click MB1 on a 

command button to initiate action. 

Double-click an icon to open its 

container. 

Note 

If you have a one-button mouse (such as an Apple Macintosh mouse), 

assign MB1 to that button. You should also define a user-selectable 

combination of option and arrow keys to simulate MB2 and MB3. For 

details, refer to the documentation for your emulation software. 

xvi PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office User Guide 

MB2 not applicable Click this button on an icon to 

display the InfoBox for the icon. 

To simulate MB2 on a two-button 

mouse, simultaneously press the 

two buttons (MB1 and MB3). 

MB3 right mouse button Click this button on an icon to 

display its pop-up menu. 


Product Components and 

Capabilities 1 


This chapter describes the features and functions of PATROL Adapter for 

Microsoft Office. 

PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2 

Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3 

Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-5 

Supported Platforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-6 

Known Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-7 

1 

Product Components and Capabilities 1-1

PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office 

Components 

PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office is a COM server that allows you 

to connect to a PATROL Agent and gather information without a 

PATROL Console. 

PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office provides reporting capabilities for 

the PATROL Agent. The PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office Report 

Wizard and Report Generator Utility use the PATROL Adapter for 

Microsoft Office COM server to collect data from PATROL parameters. 

Using the PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office, you can evaluate 

PATROL data using Microsoft ® Office products. 

You do not have to have PATROL Console or PATROL Agent installed 

on your machine to use PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office. PATROL 

Adapter for Microsoft Office gathers information by connecting to a 

PATROL Agent via the PATROL Event Manager API on hosts that you 

select.You must have Microsoft Excel istalled to save and display reports. 

PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office provides the following 

components: 

• Visual Basic ® objects and methods 

The PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office Visual Basic objects and 

methods allow you to create custom reports with a Visual Basic 

editor using the objects and methods provided for PATROL Adapter 

for Microsoft Office. 

• PATROL Report Wizard 

The PATROL Report Wizard is a sample Visual Basic for 

Applications program that showcases the capabilities of the PATROL 

Adapter for Microsoft Office COM server. The PATROL Adapter for 

Microsoft Office Report Wizard guides you through choosing hosts, 

data types, data schedules, and report types to create reports in 

Microsoft Excel. Once reports have been generated in Microsoft 

Excel, you can use the Excel report to create a report in Microsoft 

Word, HTML, or a presentation in Microsoft PowerPoint ® . 

1-2 PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office User Guide 


Features 


• PATROL Report Generator Utility 

The PATROL Report Generator Utility is a command line interface 

that uses the PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office to run reports in 

the background and run batch reporting jobs. You have the option of 

displaying the report in Microsoft Excel or saving the report to an 

Excel or HTML file. The PATROL Report Generator Utility 

demonstrates how the PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office can be 

used to automate reporting. 

PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office provides an easy way to integrate 

PATROL data into Microsoft Office applications. 

• Ability to retrieve PATROL history and event data for any 

PATROL object 

PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office allows Visual Basic for 

Applications (VBA) enabled applications to connect to PATROL 

Agents using COM and PATROL’s native interface. Statistics and 

event data collected from PATROL Agents are made available to 

VBA applications without the need for a PATROL Console. 

• Easy-to-use, Windows-style PATROL Report Wizard 

The PATROL Report Wizard interface is consistent in look and feel 

with Microsoft Office products to help you start using the tool more 

quickly. The source code for this application is open, providing you 

with a learning tool for using and customizing the PATROL Adapter 

for Microsoft Office. 


• Predefined report types 

Four predefined report types are provided with PATROL Report 

Wizard: 

• Alarm and Warning Summary Report - total number of alarms 

and warnings for the selected objects during the specified time 

range 

• Alarm and Warning Trend Report - total number of alarms and 

warnings for the selected objects during the specified time range 

per specified interval 

• History Report - each history data point for the selected objects 

during the specified time range 

• Outage Report - percent of time that the application class, 

instance, or parameter was in OK, Warn, or Alarm state during 

the specified time range. 

• Ability to create custom report types 

PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office provides its own set of Visual 

Basic objects and methods to allow you to create your own report 

types. 

• Reports that you can manipulate in Microsoft Excel or other 

Microsoft Office applications 

The PATROL Report Wizard allows you to generate a table and chart 

for each report in Microsoft Excel. Once it is generated, you can do 

anything to the report that you can do to any report that is created in 

Microsoft Excel. You can print it in color, change the styles and 

colors of the graphs, or copy the report into another Microsoft Office 

application for further manipulation. 

• Ability to save reports for later use 

If you have a report that you run frequently, the PATROL Report 

Wizard allows you to save that report so that you do not have to 

recreate the report every time you want to generate it. 

• Ability to publish reports to the Web 



Requirements 


The PATROL Report Wizard includes the option to create an HTML 

version of any report that you generate. You can easily publish the 

HTML version of the report to the Web. 

• Ability to run reports in batch mode 

PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office’s Report Generator Utility 

command line interface allows you to run reports in the background. 

You must fulfill the following requirements to use PATROL Adapter for 

Microsoft Office: 

• Microsoft Excel must be installed on the same machine on which 

PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office is installed. 

• To gather report information from a PATROL Agent, KMs must be 

preloaded on the PATROL Agent or a PATROL Console must be 

connected. 

• History and Event retention must be activated in the PATROL Agent 

for History and Event data to be collected by PATROL Adapter for 

Microsoft Office. For information on how to activate History and 

Event retention, see “Configuring PATROL to Generate Reports” on 

page 2-4. 

• To connect the PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office to a PATROL 

Agent, the Access Control List for that Agent must be configured to 

allow Event Manager connections from the host on which PATROL 

Adapter for Microsoft Office is installed. For information on 

configuring the PATROL Agent Access Control List, see the 

PATROL Agent Reference Manual. 

• Any PATROL Agent that connects with PATROL Adapter for 

Microsoft Office must be running before report information can be 

generated for that Agent. 


Supported Platforms 

Table 1-1 shows the hardware platforms, operating systems, and 

PATROL releases supported by PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office. 

Table 1-1 Supported Platforms for PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office 

Hardware 

Platforms Operating Systems 

Intel Windows NT 4.0 (Service 

Packs 4,5,6A) 

Windows 2000 

*PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office supports international versions of MS Office; however, all 

messages are displayed in English. For optimum performance, use Microsoft Office 97 (SR2) or 

Microsoft Office 2000. 

**History Report is not available for this release of PATROL. 



Versions PATROL Versions 

Microsoft Office 97(with 

SR1, SR2)* 

Microsoft Office 2000* 

PATROL 3.2.09** 

PATROL 3.3.00 




Known Limitations 


PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office has the following known 

limitations: 

• History data collection is not supported for PATROL Agents prior to 

PATROL 3.3.00. 

• Text parameter data collection is not supported. 

• Microsoft Excel charts display a limited number of items in the 

legend for a graph. PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office allows 

you to create a report that includes more items than the maximum 

number of items that can be displayed on a Microsoft Excel chart. 

For the most useful and legible reports, it is recommended that you 

do not create reports with more items than Microsoft Excel can 

display on a chart. Please check the Microsoft Excel documentation 

for the maximum number of items that can be displayed on a 

Microsoft Excel chart. 

• Any predefined report templates that are created on a machine 

running Microsoft Windows 2000 cannot be used on machines 

running Microsoft Windows NT 4.0. Microsoft Windows 2000 stores 

all registry entries in Unicode. This format is incompatible with 

previous versions of Microsoft Windows NT. 




Getting Started With the PATROL 

Adapter for Microsoft Office and the 

PATROL Report Wizard 2 


2-1 

This chapter describes how to install the PATROL Adapter for Microsoft 

Office and set up PATROL to generate reports, launch the PATROL 

Report Wizard, and access Help. 

Installing the PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2 

Adding the PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office Shortcut to Microsoft 

Excel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3 

Configuring PATROL to Generate Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-4 

Starting the PATROL Report Wizard From Microsoft Excel. . . . . . . 2-8 

Launching PATROL Reports From a PATROL Console . . . . . . . . . . 2-9 

Starting the PATROL Report Generator Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-10 

Accessing Online Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-10 

Getting Started With the PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office and the PATROL Report Wizard 

2

Installing the PATROL Adapter for Microsoft 

Office 

Note 

If you do not have Microsoft Excel installed before you install PATROL 

Adapter for Microsoft Office, see “Adding the PATROL Adapter for 

Microsoft Office Shortcut to Microsoft Excel” on page 2-3 for 

instructions on adding the PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office 

shortcut to Microsoft Excel. 

To install PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office, follow these steps. 

Step 1 Proceed through the installation until you reach the PATROL Installation 

Instructions screen. 

Step 2 Select the Install PATROL Console(s) and Console KMs radio button as 

shown in Figure 2-1. 

Figure 2-1 PATROL Installation Instructions Screen 

Step 3 Click Next. 




2-3 

Step 4 Select Adapter for Microsoft Office from the PATROL Adapters branch of 

the product selection tree as shown. 

Figure 2-2 PATROL Products Selection Screen 

Step 5 Finish the installation as instructed in the installation guide for your 

Console. 

Adding the PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office 

Shortcut to Microsoft Excel 

If you did not have Microsoft Excel installed before you installed 

PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office, you must run the XLT Install 

utility to add the shortcut for PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office to 

Microsoft Excel. 

Getting Started With the PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office and the PATROL Report Wizard

You must also run the XLT Install utility if you are using Microsoft 

Office 2000 with PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office and the account 

that you are using to run PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office is not the 

same account that was used to install PATROL Adapter for Microsoft 

Office. 

To run the XLT Install utility from Windows, double-click the 

xltinstall.exe executable located in the %PATROL_HOME%PAMO 

directory. 

To run the XLT Install utility from the command line, use the following 

syntax from the PAMO directory: 

c:\%Patrol_HOME%\PAMO:>: xltinstall -install “full path to 

PATROL_Report.xlt” -title “title to appear in the Excel workbook tab for 

the report” 

For example: 

XLTInstall.exe -install "%PATROL_HOME%PAMO/Patrol_Report.xlt" 

-title "PATROL Report" 

Configuring PATROL to Generate Reports 

Before you begin generating reports using the PATROL Adapter for 

Microsoft Office wizard, you must configure the following options in 

PATROL. 

• To collect history and event data, history and event retention must be 

activated and set to the appropriate values for the PATROL Agent on 

which you are reporting. 

• If you do not have a PATROL Console, BMC Software recommends 

that knowledge modules be preloaded on the Agent machine. If 

knowledge modules are not loaded on the Agent machine, the objects 

for that host are not available for PATROL Adapter for Microsoft 

Office to gather report information. 



Preloading Knowledge Modules on an Agent Without a 

PATROL Console 


2-5 

To gather report information from a PATROL Agent without a PATROL 

Console, a PATROL administrator must preload KMs onto the PATROL 

Agent. With the PATROL Configuration Tool, a PATROL administrator 

can add a PATROL knowledge module (KM) to a PATROL Agent’s 

preload list without a PATROL Console. When the Agent starts, it 

automatically loads the KMs on the preload list. The PATROL 

Configuration Tool enables a PATROL administrator to load either all 

product component files (represented by a .kml file) or specific product 

component files (represented by individual .km files). 

To preload KMs using the PATROL Configuration Tool, follow these 

steps: 

Step 1 Select the PATROL Agent Configuration tab. 

The PATROL Agent Configuration dialog displays a list of available 

PATROL knowledge modules (.km) and knowledge module lists (.kml) 

and their current status. 

Step 2 Double-click the status of an application file that you want to load. 

A scrolling list box appears which shows the following statuses. 

• Dynamic—the KM is installed in the Knowledge directory (default) 

• Preloaded—the agent automatically loads the KM 

• Disabled—the KM cannot be loaded by the agent or a developer 

console 

• Static—the KM does not load until a PATROL Console with the same 

KM connects to the agent. If the KM loads, it will stay loaded on the 

host after the Console disconnects. 

Step 3 Select Preloaded to preload a Knowledge Module (.km) file. 

Step 4 Repeat Step 1 through Step 3 for each PATROL KM file you want to 

preload. 


Step 5 Click Apply to save your changes and keep the PATROL Configuration 

Tool open. 

When you close the PATROL Configuration Tool, it prompts you to 

restart the PATROL Agent. 

Step 6 Click Yes to restart the PATROL Agent. 

For information about preloading KMs using the PATROL Console, see 

the PATROL Agent Reference Guide. 

Setting History and Event Retention for a PATROL Agent From 

a PATROL Console 

History and event retention must be enabled for the PATROL Adapter for 

Microsoft Office to gather report information. To set history and event 

retention for a PATROL Agent, a PATROL administrator must follow 

these steps: 

Step 1 From a Developer Console in Developer mode, expand the PATROL 

Main Map to display all of the available hosts. 

Step 2 Right-click on the host for which you want to activate history and event 

retention. 

Step 3 From the context menu, select Development => Agent Configuration.... 

The Wpconfig interface is displayed. 

Step 4 Double-click the Agent Setup folder. 

The variables in the Agent Setup folder are displayed in the window to 

the right. 

Step 5 Double-click the historyRetentionPeriod variable. 

The Modify Variable dialog box is displayed. 

Step 6 In the Change Entries list, double-click the Replace command. 




2-7 

The Change Entry dialog box appears. 

Step 7 In the Value field, enter the number of days for which you want to collect 

history. For example, if you want to collect history on a daily basis, enter 

1; for a weekly basis, enter 7. If you want to collect history on a monthly 

basis, enter 30 or 31. 

Step 8 Click OK. 


The Change Entry dialog box closes. 

The Modify Variable dialog box closes and the historyRetentionPeriod 

variable value changes to the value you entered. 

Step 10 Double-click the pemLogSize variable. 

The Modify Variable dialog box is displayed. 

Step 11 In the Change Entries list, double-click the Replace command. 

The Change Entry dialog box appears. 

Step 12 In the Value field, enter the number of bytes needed to store event 

information. For example, depending on the amount of activity on the 

Agent machine, it might take 10MB per week to store the event data for 

that machine. If you want to store a week’s worth of event data, you 

would enter 10000000 in the Value field. If you want to store a month’s 

worth of event data, you would enter 45000000 in the Value field. 



The Change Entry dialog box closes. 

The Modify Variable dialog box closes and the pemLogSize variable 

value changes to the value you entered. 


Step 15 In the Wpconfig interface, select File => Save to save the configuration 

changes that you have made. 

Step 16 Select File =>Exit. 

The Wpconfig interface closes. 

For more information activating and setting history and event retention, 

see the PATROL Agent Reference Manual. 

Starting the PATROL Report Wizard From 

Microsoft Excel 

You can use PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office to retrieve 

information from a PATROL Agent, even if you do not have a PATROL 

Console loaded on your local machine. If you do not have a PATROL 

Console, you must start PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office from 

Microsoft Excel. To start PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office from 

Microsoft Excel, follow these steps: 

Step 1 Start Microsoft Excel. 

Step 2 Choose File => New.... 

The New dialog box is displayed. 

Step 3 Choose the Spreadsheet Solutions tab. 

Step 4 Choose the Patrol Report template. 


The New dialog box closes and the Microsoft Excel macros message is 

displayed. 

Step 6 Click Enable Macros. 




2-9 

The Microsoft Excel macros message closes and the PATROL Report 

Wizard starts. 

Step 7 Complete the steps in the PATROL Report Wizard to generate a report. 

Once you have started the PATROL Report Wizard in Microsoft Excel 

and generated a report, you can restart the wizard by clicking the 

icon in the Microsoft Excel toolbar. 

You can also start the wizard from the Excel menu by following these 

steps. 

Step 1 From Microsoft Excel, select Tools => Macro => Macros.... 

The Macro dialog box is displayed. 

Step 2 From the list of available macros, select InitWizard. 

Step 3 Click Run. 

The PATROL Report Wizard is displayed. 

Launching PATROL Reports From a PATROL 

Console 

Some PATROL products include predefined reports for PATROL Adapter 

for Microsoft Office that you can launch from a PATROL Console. For 

detailed instructions on generating a PATROL Adapter for Microsoft 

Office report for a PATROL product from the PATROL Console, see the 

documentation for that PATROL product. 


Starting the PATROL Report Generator Utility 

PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office provides a report generator utility 

that you can start from a command line. This utility allows you to 

generate batch reports and save reports directly to a file without 

accessing the Microsoft Excel interface. For information about using the 

PATROL Report Generator utility, see Chapter 4, “Generating Reports 

With the PATROL Report Generator Utility.” 

Accessing Online Help 

Help is available for the PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office wizard in 

the form of balloon Help and what’s this Help. 

Balloon Help provides brief descriptions of the wizard fields and buttons. 

To access balloon Help for the PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office 

wizard, move your cursor over the field or button for which you want a 

description. A popup box is displayed that includes a brief description of 

that part of the interface. 

What’s this Help provides more detailed descriptions of the wizard fields 

and buttons. To access what’s this Help for the PATROL Adapter for 

Microsoft Office wizard, click the icon in the title bar of the wizard. 

The cursor changes to a . Using this cursor, click a wizard field or 

button to get a popup box that contains detailed information on that part 

of the interface. To dismiss the popup box and return the cursor to 

normal, click the right mouse button. 



Generating Reports With the PATROL 

Report Wizard 3 


This chapter explains how to generate, save, and update reports using the 

PATROL Report Wizard. 

Connecting to Hosts Using the PATROL Report Wizard. . . . . . . . . . 3-2 

Generating Predefined Reports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-4 

Generating Custom Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-7 

Creating and Adding Your Own Predefined Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-16 

Saving Reports as a Microsoft Excel File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-21 

Saving a Report in HTML Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-22 

Saving Report Templates to a File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-25 

Importing Reports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-26 

Updating Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-27 

3 

Generating Reports With the PATROL Report Wizard 3-1

Connecting to Hosts Using the PATROL Report Wizard 

Before you can use the PATROL Report Wizard, you must connect to the 

hosts for which you want to generate reports. The PATROL Report 

Wizard connects to hosts through the PATROL Adapter for Microsoft 

Office COM server which gathers information from the PATROL Agents 

on the hosts. 

To connect to a host using the PATROL Report Wizard 

Step 1 Start the PATROL Report Wizard from Microsoft Excel. For information 

about starting the wizard, see “Starting the PATROL Report Wizard 

From Microsoft Excel” on page 2-8. 

Step 2 On the first screen of the wizard, click Add as shown in Figure 3-1. 

Figure 3-1 Add Host Connection Button 




The Add Host dialog box appears as shown in Figure 3-2. 

Figure 3-2 Add Host Dialog Box 

Step 3 Fill in the Add Host dialog box fields as appropriate. 

Step 4 Click Add. 

The Add Host dialog box closes and the host is added to the host list on 

the first screen of the PATROL Report Wizard. Repeat the process to add 

more hosts to the list. 

Continue through the steps of the wizard to generate reports. 


Generating Predefined Reports 

To Generate a Predefined Report 

Some PATROL components provide predefined report templates that 

allow you to instantly create commonly-used reports for those products. 

The predefined reports templates define 

• report type 

• application classes, instances and parameters to be included in the 

report 

• time interval for the report 

• grouping options for the report information. 

You can use one of these predefined report types or you can create a 

custom report type. For information about creating custom report types, 

see “Generating Custom Reports” on page 3-7. 

Step 1 Start the PATROL Report Wizard from Microsoft Excel. For information 

about starting the wizard, see “Starting the PATROL Report Wizard 

From Microsoft Excel” on page 2-8. 

Step 2 If necessary, connect to the hosts that you want to monitor. For 

information on connecting to hosts, see “Connecting to Hosts Using the 

PATROL Report Wizard” on page 3-2. 



Step 3 Select the checkbox next to the hosts that you want to include in the 

report as shown in Figure 3-3. 

Figure 3-3 Select Host Screen 


Note 

At this point you have the option of selecting the Save host information 

check box, shown in Figure 3-4. If you select this check box, host and 

password information is saved to the current Microsoft Excel worksheet. 

For greater security it is recommended that you password protect any 

Microsoft Excel worksheets that you create and save while this check 

box is enabled. 

Figure 3-4 Save Connection Information Checkbox 



Step 5 From the report templates list, select the name of the predefined report 

that you want to generate as shown in Figure 3-5. 

Figure 3-5 Select Predefined Report Screen 

Step 6 Click Finish. 

The wizard closes and the report is generated in Microsoft Excel. 

Note 






Generating Custom Reports 


There are two ways to create custom reports using the PATROL Report 

Wizard. You can create a custom report by modifying an existing 

predefined report or by selecting the application classes, instances, and 

parameters that you want to include in the report, selecting a report 

format, selecting a time interval, then defining how you want the 

information to be grouped. 

To Base a Custom Report on a Predefined Report 

To generate a custom report that is based on a predefined report, you can 

modify a predefined report. To modify a predefined report, follow these 

steps: 

Step 1 Start the PATROL Report Wizard from Microsoft Excel. For instructions 

on starting the wizard, see “Starting the PATROL Report Wizard From 

Microsoft Excel” on page 2-8. 


information on connecting to hosts, see “Connecting to Hosts Using the 


Note 














that you want to base your report on as shown in Figure 3-8. 

Figure 3-8 Select Predefined Report Screen 




Step 7 Click through steps 3 through 6 to make any changes to the objects 

included in the report or the report scheduling, averaging, or grouping 

options. 


Note 

The modifications that you make to the predefined report are temporary 

unless you save the modified predefined report under another name. For 

information about saving reports, see “Creating and Adding Your Own 

Predefined Reports” on page 3-16. 

Step 8 When you are finished modifying the predefined report settings, click 

Finish. 

To Create a Custom Report 


Note 




If none of the predefined reports suit your needs, you can create a 

customized report using the PATROL Report Wizard. The customized 

report allows you to select which hosts you want to include in the report, 

select from four commonly-used predefined report types, define a time 

interval for the data that you want to include in the report, and select how 

you want your report to be grouped. 

For information about creating and adding a custom report that you can 

add to the predefined reports list, see “Creating and Adding Your Own 

Predefined Reports” on page 3-16. 

To create a custom report, follow these steps: 






instructions on connecting to hosts, see “Connecting to Hosts Using the 


Note 
















Step 5 From the report templates list, select CUSTOM REPORT as shown in 

Figure 3-11. 

Figure 3-11 Select CUSTOM REPORT Screen 


Step 7 Select one of the predefined report types described in Table 3-1. 

Table 3-1 PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office Report Types 

Report Type Description 

Alarm and Warning Summary 

Report 

Alarm and Warning Trend 

Report 



displays the total number of alarms and warnings for the selected 

objects during the specified time range 


objects during the specified time range per specified interval 

History Report displays each history data point for the selected objects during the 

specified time range per specified interval 

Outage Report displays the percentage of time that the application class, instance, 

or parameter was in OK, Warning, or Alarm state during the 

specified time range 


Step 9 Select the application classes, instances, and/or parameters that you want 

to include in the report as shown in Figure 3-12. 



Figure 3-12 Select Host Objects Screen 

Note 

If you have more than one host selected to be included in the report, any 

instances that you select for one host that are present in the other hosts 

are included in the report, regardless of whether or not you select those 

instances in the host objects screen. For example, if you selected Host1 

and Host2 to be included in the report and Host1 has one processor and 

Host2 has three processors, than if you select the 

Step 11 Select a schedule option. You can either define a specific range of time 

by selecting the Start to End radio button, or you can collect data for a 

specified amount of time in the past until the current time by selecting 

the From Previous Number of Days, Hours radio button. 


Step 12 If you want the data to be averaged by minute, hour, day, week, or 

month, select the appropriate average interval. If you want to see every 

data point, select None for the Average Interval. 


Note 

Selecting None for the Average Interval is not recommended unless you 

have very few data points. Too many data points can overload the chart, 

making it difficult to read. 

Figure 3-13 shows the schedule and averaging options for a report that 

displays information for the past week, averaged daily. 

Figure 3-13 Report Schedule and Average Options Screen 

Step 14 From the Object Types field, select the object types that you want to 

include in the report. 

Step 15 If you want to group the data by creating a separate report for each 

application class, instance, or parameter, select the appropriate radio 

button. If you want to include all the data in one report, select None. 




Figure 3-14 shows the grouping options for a report that displays 

application classes, instances, and parameters. The information for each 

application class will be displayed on a separate Excel chart. 

Figure 3-14 Report Grouping Options Screen 

Note 

If you are creating a History Report, the Application Class and Instance 

grouping options are not available. 




Creating and Adding Your Own Predefined Reports 

PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office allows you to create custom 

reports that you can add to the predefined reports list. If you have a 

custom report that you run often, creating a predefined report saves you 

the time and effort of creating the custom report over and over again. 

Note 

Creating a predefined report in this manner saves the report to your 

Windows NT registry. To save a report template to a file, you must export 

the template. For more information, see “Saving Report Templates to a 

File” on page 3-25. 

Any templates that are created on a machine running Microsoft Windows 

2000 cannot be used on machines running Microsoft Windows NT 4.0. 

Microsoft Windows 2000 stores all registry entries in Unicode. This 

format is incompatible with previous versions of Microsoft Windows NT. 

To create and add a custom report to the predefined reports list, follow 

these steps: 

Step 1 Start the PATROL Report Wizard from Microsoft Excel. 

Step 2 If necessary, connect to the hosts that you want to monitor. 

Note 












report. 


Step 5 Click Add. 

The report template wizard is displayed as shown in Figure 3-16. 

Figure 3-16 Report Template Wizard Properties Screen 

Step 6 Enter a unique name for the report, the name and the version number of 

the knowledge module from which the report is collecting data. 

Note 

The template fields are designed to help you identify and version the 

predefined reports that you create. You are not required to fill in these 

fields with specific values. 



Step 8 Select one of the predefined report types described in Table 3-1. 

Table 3-2 PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office Report Types 



Report 


Report 


Step 10 Select the application classes, instances, and/or parameters that you want 

to include in the report as shown in Figure 3-17. 

Figure 3-17 Report Template Host Objects Screen 

Step 11 Select a schedule option. Either define a specific range of time by 

selecting the Start to End radio button, or collect data for a specified 





objects during the specified time range per specified interval 


specified time range per specified interval 


or parameter was in OK, Warning, or Alarm state during the 





amount of time in the past until the current time by selecting the From 

Previous Number of Days, Hours radio button. If you want the data to be 

averaged by minute, hour, day, week, or month, select the appropriate 

average interval. If you want to see every data point, select None for the 

Average Interval. 

Note 




Figure 3-18 shows the Start to End and the average information Daily 

options are enabled. 

Figure 3-18 Report Template Schedule and Average Options Screen 


Step 13 From the Object Types field, select the object types that you want to 

include in the report as shown in Figure 3-19. 

Figure 3-19 Report Template Grouping Options Screen 

Step 14 If you want to group the data by creating a separate report for each 

application class, instance, or parameter, select the appropriate radio 

button. If you want to include all the data in one report, select None. 

Note 




The report template wizard closes and the report is added to the 

predefined reports list in the PATROL Report Wizard. 

Step 16 To generate your new report, select it from the list and click Finish. 

The PATROL Report Wizard closes and the report is generated in 

Microsoft Excel. 



Saving Reports as a Microsoft Excel File 


PATROL Report Wizard allows you to create a report, then save it for 

future use. All report template information is stored in the Windows NT 

registry, so if you create a report, then want to run the wizard to create 

another report, all report template data is lost unless you save the report. 

Once you have saved a report, you can open the report in Microsoft 

Excel and use the PATROL Report Wizard to refresh the information in 

the report. For information about refreshing reports, see “Updating 

Reports” on page 3-27. 

Note 

This procedure does not create a template that can be added to the 

predefined reports list and modified to create other reports. To save a 

report as a template, you must export the report to a file. For more 

information, see “Saving Report Templates to a File” on page 3-25. 

To save a report, follow these steps: 

Step 1 Generate a report. 

Step 2 In Microsoft Excel select File => Save. 

The Save As dialog box is displayed. 

Step 3 Browse to the location where you want to store the report. 

Step 4 In the File name field, enter a name for the report. 

Step 5 Click Save. 

The Save As dialog box closes and the report is saved in the location that 

you specified. 


Saving a Report in HTML Format 

To Save a Report in HTML Format 

You can save reports in HTML format so that you can display them on 

the Web. The option to save the report as HTML format is on the last 

screen of the PATROL Report Wizard, so the procedure to save a report 

in HTML format depends on whether you are generating a predefined 

report or a custom report. 




Step 2 If necessary, connect to the hosts that you want to monitor. 

Note 









report. 



that you want to generate. 



Step 6 On the PATROL Report Wizard map on the left side of the screen, click 

the Create/Save step as shown in Figure 3-21. 


Figure 3-21 Create/Save Step Shortcut 

The wizard skips to the last screen of the wizard. 

Step 7 Select the Save report in HTML format checkbox as shown in Figure 

3-22. 

Figure 3-22 Save report in HTML format Checkbox 

Step 8 Enter or browse for the file location and file name where you want to 

save the HTML file. 


The report is generated in Microsoft Excel and is saved as the file name 

you entered in the location you specified. 


To Save a Custom Report in HTML Format 

Step 1 Generate a report by following all the steps in the PATROL Report 

Wizard. For information about generating custom reports, see 

“Generating Custom Reports” on page 3-7. 

Step 2 On the last screen of the wizard, select the Save report in HTML format 

checkbox. 

Step 3 Enter or browse for a file location and file name where you want to save 

the HTML file. 


The report is generated in Microsoft Excel and is saved as the file name 

you entered in the location you specified. 



Saving Report Templates to a File 


If you want to save a predefined template to a file so that it can be used 

on another machine to create reports, you must export the report to a file. 

To export a report to a file, follow these steps: 

Step 1 If the report that you want to export to a file is not included on the 

predefined reports list, create and add a predefined report as described in 

“Creating and Adding Your Own Predefined Reports” on page 3-16. 

Step 2 Select the predefined report from the predefined reports list located on 

the Report Templates screen of the PATROL Report Wizard. 

Note 

Any templates that are created on a machine running Microsoft Windows 

2000 cannot be used on machines running Microsoft Windows NT 4.0. 

Microsoft Windows 2000 stores all registry entries in Unicode. This 

format is incompatible with previous versions of Microsoft Windows NT. 

Step 3 Click Export. 

The Export PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office Predefined Report 

Description into a File dialog box is displayed. 

Step 4 Browse to the location where you want to save the report template. 

Step 5 Enter a file name for the report template and click Save. 

The report template is saved to the location that you specified. 


Importing Reports 

If you have created a predefined report template by some means other 

than using the PATROL Report Wizard, or you would like to add a 

predefined report template that you have exported to a file (see “Saving 

Report Templates to a File” on page 3-25) to the predefined reports list, 

you can add that template to the predefined reports list by following these 

steps: 

Step 1 Start the PATROL Report Wizard. 

Step 2 Select any host in the host list. 

Note 

Selecting a host does not affect importing reports; it just enables the Next 

button so that you can access the predefined report template screen. 


Step 4 Click Import. 

The Import PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office Predefined Report 

Description File dialog box is displayed. 

Step 5 Browse to the location of the template that you want to import. 

Step 6 Select the template and click Open. 

The template is added to the predefined templates list. 



Updating Reports 


Once you have generated a report in Microsoft Excel, you can update the 

information in the report by clicking the icon in the Microsoft Excel 

toolbar or rerunning the report in the PATROL Report Wizard. You can 

also update the report by following these steps: 

Step 1 From Microsoft Excel, select Tools => Macro => Macros.... 

The Macro dialog box is displayed. 

Step 2 From the list of available macros, select updateCurrentReport. 

Step 3 Click Run. 

The report is updated with the most recent information. 




Generating Reports With the PATROL 

Report Generator Utility 4 


The following chapter explains how to use the PATROL Report 

Generator utility to generate reports in the background. 

PATROL Report Generator Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-2 

Generating Reports Using the Report Generator Interface . . . . . . . . 4-3 

Generating Reports From a Command Line or Batch File. . . . . . . . . 4-8 

Accessing Online Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-14 

4 

Generating Reports With the PATROL Report Generator Utility 4-1

PATROL Report Generator Features 

The PATROL Report Generator utility is a command line utility that 

generates a report in the background and displays it in Microsoft Excel. 

The report generator command allows you to define the following report 

parameters: 

• host name 

• port number 

• user name 

• password 

• application classes, instances, and parameter names 

• report type 

• time range 

• interval option 

• averaging option 

The report generator utility can be started in silent (-s argument) or GUI 

mode. If the report generator utility is started in GUI mode, you can 

define the report type, time range, interval option, and averaging options 

using a GUI dialog box. If the report generator utility is started in silent 

mode, you can enter all the report options from a command line. No GUI 

dialog boxes will appear. Silent mode is useful when you do not want 

Microsoft Excel to appear or when you want to generate reports in batch 

mode. 



Generating Reports Using the Report Generator Interface 


To create reports in GUI mode without the PATROL Report Wizard, you 

can launch the PATROL Report Generator utility from the command line 

to display dialog boxes that allow you to set up report options. This 

method of launching the PATROL Report Generator utility is called GUI 

mode. 

To launch the PATROL Report Generator utility in GUI mode 

» Enter the following command at the DOS prompt from the 

%PATROL_HOME\pamo directory: 

prgen -host hostname -port number -user name -password password -objects object1, object2... 

Table 4-1 describes the arguments for the prgen command. 

Table 4-1 PATROL Report Generator Utility GUI Command Arguments 

Argument Description 

-host specifies the host from which report information is collected 

-port specifies the port number for the host 

-user specifies the user name for the host account 

-password specifies the password for the user’s account 

-objects specifies the application classes, instance names, or parameters from 

which you want to collect information for the specified host. You can 

use wildcards to represent instances. 

Example: NT_CPU/*/parameter_name generates a report that 

includes the information for parameter_name for all CPU application 

class instances. 


When you enter the prgen command, the PATROL Report Generator 

dialog box is displayed as shown in Figure 4-1. 

Figure 4-1 PATROL Report Generator Utility Display Options. 



To Generate a Report From the PATROL Report Generator Dialog Box 

Step 1 From the drop list, select one of the predefined report types described in 

Table 4-2. 

Table 4-2 PATROL Report Generator Utility Report Types 



Report 


Report 

Step 2 From the Add to Chart field, select the object types that you want to 

include in the report. 

Step 3 From the Grouping Options field, select the appropriate radio button to 

group the data by creating a separate report for each application class, 

instance, or parameter. If you want to include all the data in one report, 

select None. 




displays each alarm and warning for the selected objects during the 





or parameter was available during the specified time range. The 

outage report is based on the length of time that an object was not 

in Alarm or Warning. The percentage is calculated by gathering all 

the history points for a specified range and determining the amount 

of time that the points were not occupying the Alarm or Warning 

ranges. 

Note 



Step 4 If you want to save the report as an HTML file, select the Save report in 

HTML format check box. 

Step 5 Enter or browse for a file location and file name where you want to save 

the HTML file. 


Step 6 Select the Schedule Options tab. 

The PATROL Report Generator dialog box is displayed as shown in 

Figure 4-2. 

Figure 4-2 PATROL Report Generator Utility Schedule Options. 

Step 7 Select a schedule option. You can either define a specific range of time 

by selecting the Start to End radio button, or you can collect data for a 

specified amount of time in the past until the current time by selecting 

the From Previous Number of Days, Hours radio button. 

Step 8 If you want the data to be averaged by minute, hour, day, week, or 

month, select the appropriate average interval. If you want to see every 

data point, select None for the Average Interval. 

Averaging is not valid for the Alarm and Warning Summary Report or 

the Outage Report. 

Note 








The dialog box disappears and the report is generated in Microsoft Excel. 


Generating Reports From a Command Line or Batch File 

You can generate reports from the command line and save them to a 

Microsoft Excel and/or HTML file or display them in Microsoft Excel 

without entering information in the PATROL Report Generator utility 

dialog box. This is called silent mode. 

To start the PATROL Report Generator utility in silent mode, all 

arguments for the prgen command must be defined and you must enter 

the -s argument at the end of the prgen command. You can define the 

arguments from the command line, or you can write a batch file that 

includes all the arguments and run the batch file repeatedly. 

To Launch the PATROL Report Generator in Silent Mode 

» From the command line enter: 

%PATROL_HOME\pamo\prgen -host hostname -port number -user name -password password | 

-encrpassword password -objects object1, object2, ... | -template filename -type “Event Summary 

Report” | “Event Trend Report” | “History Report” | “Outage Report” -start #date# -end #date# -average 

0|1|2|3|4|5 -rtype 0|1 -interval minutes -group 0|1|2|3|4|5 -add 001|011|111|100|110|010 -html 

filename -xlFile filename [-xlPassword password] -s 

Table 4-3 defines all the arguments for the prgen command. 

Table 4-3 PATROL Report Generator Utility Silent Command Arguments 


-host specifies the host from which report information is 

collected 


Required/ 

Optional 

required 

-port specifies the port number for the host required 

-user specifies the user name for the host account required 

-password 

 

specifies the password for the user’s account required if 

-encrpassword 

argument is not 

used 




-encrpassword 

 

-objects 

-template 

 


specifies the PEM API encrypted password to be used for 

this account 

specifies the application classes, instance names, or 

parameters from which you want to collect information for 

the specified host 

specifies the file name of a predefined template that has 

been created using the PATROL Adapter for Microsoft 

Office wizard and is stored in the registry 

-type “report_type” specifies the report type to be generated: 

“Event Summary Report” displays the total number of 

alarms and warnings for the specified objects during the 

specified time range. 

“Event Summary Report Trend Report” displays each 

alarm and warning for the specified objects during the 

specified time range. 

“History Report” displays each history data point for the 

specified objects during the specified time range. 

“Outage Report” displays the percent of time that the 

application class, instance, or parameter was available 

during the specified time range. 

-start ## specifies the date to begin collecting data for the report in 

Visual Basic format 

Examples: #January 1, 1993#, #1 Jan 93#, #1/1/1993# 

#17:04:23# 

-end ## specifies the date to stop collecting data for the report in 

Visual Basic format 

Examples: #January 1, 1993#, #1 Jan 93#, #1/1/1993# 

#17:04:23# 

Required/ 

Optional 

required if 

-password 


used 

required if 

-template 


used 

required if 

-objects 


used 

required if 

-template 


used 

• required if the 

value of -rtype 

argument is 0 

• not valid if 

-template is 

used 

• required if the 

value of -rtype 

argument is 0 


-template is 

used 




-average † specifies if and how the report data will be averaged: 

0 - displays all the data 

1 - displays the average data per minute 

2 - displays the average data per hour 

3 - displays the average data per day 

4 - displays the average data per week 

5 - displays the average data per year 

-rtype specifies the type of time range that the report covers: 

0 - report covers specific dates 

1 - report covers specified time in the past to the present 

time 

-interval specifies the amount of time in the past that data is to be 

collected if the -rtype argument value is 1 

-group * determines how data is grouped in the report: 

0 - all applications are included in one chart 

1 - one chart is created for each application 

2 - one chart is created for each application and instance 

3 - one chart is created for each instance 

4 - one chart is created for each parameter and 

application 

5 - one chart is created for each parameter 

-add * determines what objects are displayed in the report: 

100 - adds application classes to the report** 

010 - adds instances to the report** 

001 - adds parameters to the report 

110 - adds application classes and instances to the 

report** 

111 - adds application classes, instances, and parameters 

to the report** 

011- adds instances and parameters to the report** 

-html specifies to save the report to an HTML file with the 

specified name 

-xlFile specifies to save the report to a Microsoft Excel file with 

the specified name 


Required/ 

Optional 

• required 


-template is 

used 

• required 


-template is 

used 

• required if 

-rtype value is 

1 


-template is 

used 

• required 


-template is 

used 

• required 


-template is 

used 

optional 

optional 




-xlPassword 

 

*See Table 4-4 for a list of dependencies between -add and -group. 

**These options are invalid for History Reports. 

†This argument is not valid for Alarm and Warning Summary Reports or Outage Reports. 


specifies the password for the Microsoft Excel file to which 

the report is saved if that file is password protected 

-s generates reports without the GUI dialog box when used 

with -xlFile and/or -html and/or -v arguments 

-u specifies to automatically update the file specified by the 

-xlFile argument 

-v displays the report in a Microsoft Excel worksheet if -html 

or -xlFile arguments are used 

required only if 

-xlFile is used 

and the Excel file 

is password 

protected 

optional; must be 

used with -xlFile 

and/or -html 

and/or -v 

arguments 


used with -xlFile 

and/or -html 

arguments 


used with -s 

argument 

The -add and -group options have dependencies that may invalidate some 

of the -group options. lists these dependencies. 

Table 4-4 -add and -group Dependencies 

If you use this -add option... These -group options are valid... 

100 - adds application classes to the 

report 



Required/ 

Optional 

010 - adds instances to the report 0 - all applications are included in one chart 





Table 4-4 -add and -group Dependencies 

If you use this -add option... These -group options are valid... 

001 - adds parameters to the report 0 - all applications are included in one chart 




4 - one chart is created for each parameter and application 


110 - adds application classes and 

instances to the report 

111 - adds application classes, 

instances, and parameters to the 

report 

011- adds instances and parameters 

to the report 

Generating Reports in Batch Mode 

You can run reports in batch mode by entering the prgen command into a 

batch file. 

Figure 4-3 shows a batch file that creates a report that saves the history 

data for every instance the NT_CPU application class for the 

CPUprcpProcTimePercent, CPUprcrProcessorTimePercent, and 

CPUprcrPrivTimePercent parameters. The report is saved in an HTML 

file (-html argument) without entering information into the report 

generator dialog boxes (-s argument). The report will not display in 

Microsoft Excel (-v argument is not used). 



















Figure 4-3 Sample Batch Program for Saving a Report To an HTML File 

%PATROL_HOME\pamo\prgen -host myhost -port 1987 -user myname -password 

mypassword -type "History Report" -objects NT_CPU/*/CPUprcpProcTimePercent, 

NT_CPU/*/CPUprcrProcessorTimePercent, NT_CPU/*/CPUprcrPrivTimePercent 

-start #09/01/99# -end #09/02/99# -average 2 -rtype 0 -group 1 -add 110 

-html "C:\Program Files\Office\myhtml.html" -s 


Table 4-5 explains each of the arguments used in the sample program 

shown in Figure 4-3. 

Table 4-5 Sample Batch Program Argument Descriptions 


%PATROL_HOME\pamo\prgen starts the report generator utility from its home 

directory 

-host myhost specifies the host 

-port 1987 specifies the port number for the host 

-user myname specifies the user name for the host 

-password mypassword specifies the password for the host 

-type "History Report" specifies the report type as History Report. History 

Report displays all the history data for the objects 

specified by -objects. 

-objects 

NT_CPU/*/CPUprcpProcTimePercent, 

NT_CPU/*/CPUprcrProcessorTimePercent, 

NT_CPU/*/CPUprcrPrivTimePercent 

specifies that the history data will be included in the 

report for the CPUprcpProcTimePercent, 

CPUprcrProcessorTimePercent, and 

CPUprcrPrivTimePercent parameters for every 

instance in the NT_CPU application class. The 

wildcard * indicates that the data is to be included for 

all instances. 

-rtype 0 specifies the range type for the report is from one 

specific date to another 

-start #09/01/99# specifies the date to begin gathering data 

-end #09/02/99# specifies the date to stop gathering data 

-average 2 specifies that the data will be averaged and 

displayed by the hour 

-group 1 specifies that one chart is created for each 

application 


Table 4-5 Sample Batch Program Argument Descriptions 


-add 110 specifies that application classes and instances will 

be displayed in the report 

-html "C:\Program Files\Office\myhtml.html" specifies that the report will be saved in an HTML file 

in the named location 

-s specifies that the report will be saved directly to the 

HTML file, so that you do not interact with the report 

generator dialog boxes 

Accessing Online Help 

The PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office Report Generator has Help 

that provides you with a list of arguments for the prgen command and a 

brief description of each argument. To access the Help for the prgen 

command, enter prgen with no arguments or enter prgen -help at the DOS 

prompt. 



Using PATROL Adapter for Microsoft 

Office VBA Objects in Your VB or 

VBA Programs 5 


The following chapter explains how to use the PATROL Adapter for 

Microsoft Office objects and methods to develop Visual Basic (VB) or 

Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) programs for Microsoft Office 

applications. This chapter also provides a summary of the PATROL 

Adapter for Microsoft Office objects, methods, and properties provided 

by PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office. 

Creating Programs With PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office . . . 5-2 

Including the Object Library in VB or VBA Programs . . . . . . . . . . . 5-3 

Creating a PATROL Agent Host Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-4 

Summary of COM Server VBA Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-5 

Sample Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-37 

Using PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office VBA Objects in Your VB or VBA Programs 5-1 

5

Creating Programs With PATROL Adapter for 


The PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office can be integrated into your 

VB or VBA programs and used to enhance or modify Microsoft Office 

applications. You must be proficient in developing VB or VBA programs 

to use the PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office objects and methods in 

VB or VBA programs. 

For example, you can create custom reports by developing a VB or VBA 

program that uses the PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office objects to 

collect information from PATROL KMs on various hosts and displays the 

collected information in a Microsoft Office application. 

To assist you in enhancing and modifying Microsoft Office products, 

PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office provides you with VBA objects 

and methods that allow you to obtain and display information collected 

from the PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office COM server. 

Before you begin using the PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office 

objects, you must complete the following tasks: 

• “Launching the Visual Basic Editor” on page 5-3 

• “Including the Object Library in VB or VBA Programs” on page 5-3 

• “Creating a PATROL Agent Host Object” on page 5-4 

Once you have completed these initial tasks, you can begin to develop a 

VB or VBA program that takes advantage of the PATROL Adapter for 

Microsoft Office objects. These objects are summarized in “Summary of 

COM Server VBA Objects” on page 5-5. 



Launching the Visual Basic Editor 


Microsoft Excel provides a Visual Basic editor that allows you to create 

VB or VBA programs. To launch the Visual Basic editor, from Microsoft 

Excel, select Tools => Macro => Visual Basic Editor. The Microsoft Visual 

Basic Editor is displayed. 

Including the Object Library in VB or VBA Programs 

To use PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office objects and methods in VB 

or VBA programs you must include a reference to the PATROL Adapter 

for Microsoft Office object library in the current project. To reference the 

PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office object library, follow these steps. 

Step 1 From the Microsoft Visual Basic Editor, select Tools => References.... 

The References - VBAProject dialog box is displayed. 

Step 2 From the Available References list, select PATROL Adapter 1.0 Object 

Library. 


The References - VBAProject dialog box is dismissed. 

Using PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office VBA Objects in Your VB or VBA Programs 5-3

Creating a PATROL Agent Host Object 

PATROL Agent Host objects are created indirectly by the PATROL Hosts 

Collection object. The PATROL Hosts Collection object is the only 

PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office object that you can create directly 

using the new keyword or the CreateHostObject method. 

First, you must create a PATROL Host Collection object for the PATROL 

Agent Host object to reside in. To create a PATROL hosts collection, you 

must first create a new instance of the PatrolHostsCollection object by 

including this statement in your program: 

Dim hosts as new PatrolHostsCollection 

This statement creates a new instance of the PatrolHostsCollection 

object. For information on the methods and properties associated with the 

PatrolHostsCollection object, see “PATROL Hosts Collection Object” on 

page 5-5. 

Now you can begin adding hosts to the collection by including these 

statements for each host that you want to add: 

Dim host1 as PatrolAgentHost 

Set host1 = hosts.CreateHostObject (HostName, PortNumber, UserName, 

Password|EncrPassword) 

The first statement declares the host1 variable as type PatrolAgentHost. 

The second statement creates a host named host1 with the specified host 

name, port number, user name, and password or encrypted password and 

assigns it to the PatrolHostsCollection variable hosts. For information on 

the methods and properties associated with the PatrolAgentHost object, 

see “PATROL Agent Host Object” on page 5-7. 

Note 

Do not try to create a host by using this statement: 

Dim host1 as new PatrolHost 

All hosts must be defined as part of a PatrolHostsCollection. 



Summary of COM Server VBA Objects 


Once you have referenced the PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office 

object library, you are able to select PATROL Adapter for Microsoft 

Office data types when you are dimensioning variables. 

The following sections describe each of the PATROL Adapter for 

Microsoft Office COM server VBA objects. 

PATROL Hosts Collection Object 

The PATROL Hosts Collection object represents a collection of hosts that 

allows collection items to be accessed and enumerated from VBA or VB 

by using the For Each keyword. The PATROL Hosts Collection object is 

the only PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office object that is created 

directly by using the new keyword or the CreateHostObject method. 

You must use the PATROL Hosts Collection object to create PATROL 

Agent Host objects and other PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office 

objects. 

The PATROL Hosts Collection object supports the following methods 

and properties. 


CreateHostObject Method 

The CreateHostObject method creates a PatrolAgentHost object, 

executes its login method, and adds it into the collection of PATROL 

Host objects. 

Syntax 

expression.CreateHostObject(HostName, PortNumber, UserName, 

Password|EncrPassword) 

expression Required. An expression that returns a PatrolAgentHost 

object 

HostName Required. Astring specifying the name of the host to connect 

to 

PortNumber Required. A Long integer specifying the port number of the 

host to connect to 

UserName Required. A string specifying the user name of the account 

that is used to connect to the host 

Password Required if EncrPassword parameter is not used. A string 

specifying the password for the account that is used to 

connect to the host. If EncrPassword is defined, then 

Password is ignored 

EncrPassword Required if Password parameter is not used. A string that 

specifies the encrypted password for the account that is used 

to connect to the host. If EncrPassword is not defined, then 

Password is used 

Note 

If both Password and EncrPassword are specified, then Password is 

ignored. 



RemoveHostObject Method 

Item Method 

Count Property 


The RemoveHostObject method removes the specified PatrolAgentHost 

object from the PatrolHostsCollection. 

Syntax 

expression.RemoveHostObject(HostName) 

The Item method returns a PatrolAgentHost object based on the index 

passed. 

Syntax 

expression.Item(Index) 

The Count property is a read-only property that returns the number of the 

PatrolAgentHost objects in the collection. 

PATROL Agent Host Object 

expression Required. An expression that returns a PatrolAgentHost object 

HostName Required. A string specifying the name of the host to be 

removed from the collection 

expression Required. An expression that returns a PatrolAgentHost object 

Index Required. A string specifying the name of the host or a long 

integer specifying the number of an item in a collection 

The PATROL Agent Host object is created by the CreateHostObject 

method of the PATROL Hosts Collection object. (See “PATROL Hosts 

Collection Object” on page 5-5.) The PATROL Agent Host object 

implements the IPatrolAgentHost interface, which consists of the 

following methods and properties. 


DumpEvents Method 

The DumpEvents method returns the PATROL Events Collection object 

(See “PATROL Events Collection Object” on page 5-33.) that contains 

PATROL Event objects (See “PATROL Event Object” on page 5-33.) that 

occurred between the dates specified by the Start and End parameters. 

ApplicationName, InstanceName, and ParameterName parameters are 

optional. If Instance and Parameter parameters are omitted, then the 

result is calculated for the ApplicationName parameter and so forth. If 

ApplicationName, InstanceName, and ParameterName parameters are 

omitted, then the result is calculated for the specified host. 

Syntax 

expression.DumpEvents(StartTime, EndTime, [TypeFilter], 

[ApplicationName], [InstanceName], [ParameterName]) 


object 

StartTime Required. The starting time of the event query interval, 

entered as type DATE 

EndTime Required. The ending time of the event query interval, 


TypeFilter Optional. A string specifying an event type filter. Possible 

values are: 

• I - INFORMATION event type 

• S - STATE_CHANGE event type 

• E - ERROR event type 

• W - WARNING event type 

• A - ALARM event type 

• R - RESPONSE event type 

For example: 

• "S,E,W,A,R" matches all event types except 

INFORMATION 

• "I,S,E,W,A,R" matches all event types 

• "W,A" matches only event types WARNING and 

ALARM 

If the TypeFilter parameter is omitted, then S 

(STATE_CHANGE) is used. 



DumpHistory Method 


ApplicationName Optional. A string specifying the name of the application 

class 

InstanceName Optional. A string specifying the name of the instance 

ParameterName Optional. A string specifying the name of the parameter 

The DumpHistory method returns the History object (See “History 

Object” on page 5-31.) that contains history points for the specified 

parameter. The history interval is determined by the Start and End 

parameters. Averages are calculated based on the AverageIntervalType 

parameter. The AverageIntervalType parameter is optional. If the 

AverageIntervalType parameter is omitted, then no averages are 

calculated. 

Syntax 

expression.DumpHistory(StartTime, EndTime, ApplicationName, 

InstanceName, ParameterName, [AverageIntervalType]) 

expression Required. An expression that returns a 

PatrolAgentHost object 

StartTime Required. The starting time of the history interval, 


EndTime Required. The ending time of the history interval, 


ApplicationName Required. A string specifying the name of the 

application class that contains the parameter from 

which you want to retrieve history events 

InstanceName Required. A string specifying the name of the instance 


GetApplication Method 

The GetApplication method allows you to directly reference an 

application class for a specified host without going through discovery of 

all the application classes for that host. Use the GetApplication method 

when you know the name of a specific application class that you need to 

reference. This method is faster than using the Applications property to 

discover all the applications of the host. For information on the 

Applications property, see “Applications Property” on page 5-11. 

Syntax 

GetPatrolVariable Method 

ParameterName Required. A string specifying the name of the 

parameter 

AverageIntervalType Optional. A long integer specifying an averaging 

interval. Possible values are: 

0 - no averages 

1 - calculate averages every minute 

2 - calculate averages every hour 

3 - calculate averages every day 

4 - calculate averages every week 

5 - calculate averages every month 

expression.GetApplication(“ApplicationName”) 


object 

ApplicationName Required. A string specifying the name of the application 

class 

The GetPatrolVariable method returns the value of the specified PATROL 

Agent variable. 



PSLExec Method 

Applications Property 

Syntax 


expression.GetPatrolVariable(VariableName) 


object 

VariableName Required. A string specifying the name of the PATROL 

Agent variable 

The PSLExec method executes a PSL script on the PATROL Agent 

specified by the PATROL Agent Host object and returns a string that is 

the result of execution of the PSL script. 

Syntax 

expression.PSLExec(PslString, WaitForResults) 


object 

PslString Required. A string specifying a valid PSL script. See the 

PSL Reference Guide for information about valid PSL 

scripts. 

WaitForResults Required. Enter 0 if you want the program to continue 

without waiting for a result. 

Enter 1 if you want the program to wait for a result before 

continuing. 

The Applications property returns a PatrolApplicationsCollection object. 

Use the Applications property to discover all the application classes for a 

host. If you need to return a specific application class and you know the 

name of that application class, it is faster to use the GetApplication 

method, discussed on page 5-10. 


EncrPassword Property 

HostName Property 

PortNumber Property 

State Property 

UserName Property 

Version Property 

The EncrPassword property returns the encrypted password for the 

specified user. 

The HostName property returns the host name for the connection to the 

PATROL Agent. 

The PortNumber property returns the port number for the connection to 

the PATROL Agent. 

The State property returns the state of the PATROL Agent. Possible 

states are ALARM, WARN, OK, and OFFLINE. 

The UserName property returns the user name for the account needed to 

connect to the PATROL Agent. 

The Version property returns the PATROL Agent's version number. 



PATROL Applications Collection Object 

Item Method 


The PATROL Applications Collection object is created by the 

Applications property of the PATROL Agent Host object. (See “PATROL 

Agent Host Object” on page 5-7.) The PATROL Applications Collection 

object implements the IPatrolApplicationsCollection interface, which is a 

collection of the Patrol Application objects that allows applications to be 

accessed and enumerated from VBA or VB by using the For Each 

keyword. 

Note 

When you request an Applications Collection object, you force the 

discovery of all the applications for the specified host. 

The IPatrolApplicationsCollection interface supports the following 

methods and properties. 

The Item method returns an PatrolApplication object based on the index 

passed. 

Syntax 


expression Required. An expression that returns a PatrolApplication object 

Index Required. A string specifying the name of the application class 

or a type long specifying the number of an item in a collection 


Refresh Method 


The Refresh method rediscovers all the PatrolApplication objects for a 

specified host. This method is particularly useful for updating the status 

of PATROL applications. 

Syntax 

expression.Refresh () 

The Count property returns the number of application objects in the 

collection. 

PATROL Application Object 


The PATROL Application object represents a PATROL application class. 

The PATROL Application object implements the IPatrolApplication 

interface which supports the following methods and properties. 







the PATROL Event objects (See “PATROL Event Object” on page 5-33.) 

that occurred between the dates specified by the Start and End 

parameters. The TypeFilter parameter is optional. If you do not specify a 

TypeFilter, then all events are returned. 

Syntax 

expression.DumpEvents(StartTime, EndTime, [TypeFilter]) 


StartTime Required. The starting time of the event, entered as type DATE 

EndTime Required. The ending time of the event, entered as type DATE 

TypeFilter Optional. A string specifying an event type filter. Possible values 

are: 

• I - INFORMATION 

• S - STATE_CHANGE 

• E - ERROR 

• W - WARNING 

• A - ALARM 

• R - RESPONSE 

For example: 


INFORMATION 


• "W,A" matches only event types WARNING and ALARM 

If the TypeFilter parameter is omitted, then S (STATE_CHANGE) 

is used. 


EventReport Method 

GetInstance Method 

The EventReport method returns the number of warnings and alarms that 

occurred between the dates specified by the Start and End parameters for 

the specified application class. 

Syntax 

expression.EventReport(StartTime, EndTime, Warnings, Alarms) 

expression Required. An expression that returns a PatrolApplication 

object 

StartTime Required. Specifies the starting time of the event report 

interval as type DATE 

EndTime Required. Specifies the ending time of the event report 


Warnings as Long Required. Previously defined output parameter that 

returns the number of warnings 

Alarms as Long Required. Previously defined output parameter that 

returns the number of alarms 

The GetInstance method allows you to directly reference an instance for 

a specified application without going through discovery of all the 

instances for that application. Use the GetInstance method when you 

know the name of a specific instance that you need to reference. This 

method is faster than using the Instances property to discover all the 

instances of the application class. For information on the Instances 

property, see “Instances Property” on page 5-17. 

Syntax 

expression.GetInstance(“InstanceName”) 


object 




GetVariable Method 


Instances Property 

MasterRev Property 


The GetVariable method returns the value for the PATROL Agent 

variable for the specified PATROL application object. 

Syntax 

expression.GetVariable(VariableName) 


object 

VariableName Required. A string specifying the name of the PATROL Agent 

variable 

The Refresh method refreshes all the parameters for the specified 

PATROL Application object. 

Syntax 



The Instances property returns the application's InstancesCollection 

object. Use the Instances property to discover all the instances for a host. 

If you need to return a specific instance and you know the name of that 

instance, it is faster to use the GetInstance method, discussed on page 

5-16. 

The MasterRev property returns the application's master revision. 


MinorRev Property 

Name Property 


WorstInstance Property 

The MinorRev property returns the application's minor revision. 

The Name property returns the application's name. 

The State property returns the application's state. Possible states are 

ALARM, WARN, OK, and OFFLINE. 

The WorstInstance property returns the name of the application's worst 

instance. 

PATROL Application Instances Collection Object 

Item Method 

The PATROL Application Instances Collection object implements the 

IPatrolApplicationInstancesCollection interface and is a collection of the 

PATROL Application Instance objects. 

IPatrolApplicationInstancesCollection interface is a collection interface 

that allows collection items to be accessed from VBA or VB by using the 

For Each keyword. 

The Item method returns a PatrolApplicationInstance object based on the 

index passed. 





Syntax 



expression Required. An expression that returns a PatrolApplicationInstance 

object 

Index Required. Specifies a string that is the instance name or 

specifies a long integer that is the number of the item in the 

collection 

The Refresh method rediscovers all the PatrolApplicationInstance objects 

for a specified host. This method is particularly useful for updating the 

status of PATROL instances. 

Syntax 



object 

The Count property is a read-only property that returns the number of 

instance objects in the collection. 


PATROL Application Instance Object 


The PATROL Application Instance object represents a PATROL 

application instance. 

The PATROL Application Instance object implements the 

IPatrolApplicationInstance interface. 





The TypeFilter parameter is optional. If you do not specify a TypeFilter, 

then all event objects are returned. 

Syntax 



object 




are: 



• E - ERROR 


• A - ALARM 


For example: 


INFORMATION 




is used. 




GetParameter Method 




the specified application instance. 

Syntax 



PatrolApplicationInstance object 









The GetParameter method allows you to directly reference a parameter 

for a specified application instance without going through discovery of 

all the parameters for that instance. Use the GetParameter method when 

you know the name of a specific parameter that you need to reference. 

This method is faster than using the Parameter property to discover all 

the parameters of an instance. For information on the Parameters 

property, see “Parameters Property” on page 5-23. 

Syntax 

expression.GetParameter(“ParameterName”) 








variable for the specified PATROL application instance object. 

Syntax 


The Refresh method refreshes all the parameters for the specified 

PatrolApplicationInstance object. 

Syntax 

ApplicationName Property 

CreateIcon Property 

DisplayName Property 




variable 



object 

The ApplicationName property returns the name of the application. 

The CreateIcon property returns the icon parameter for the specified 

instance. This parameter specifies whether the icon is to be created for 

PATROL Console-type applications. 

The DisplayName property returns the display name for the instance. 



MasterRev Property 

MinorRev Property 

Name Property 

Parameters Property 

Parent Property 

RuleState Property 


WorstParam Property 


The MasterRev property returns the instance's master revision. 

The MinorRev property returns the instance's minor revision. 

The Name property returns the instance's name. 

The Parameters property returns the instances's ParametersCollection 

object. Use the Parameters property to discover all the parameters for a 

host. If you need to return a specific parameter and you know the name 

of that parameter, it is faster to use the GetParameter method, discussed 

on page 5-21. 

The Parent property returns the parent application name for the specified 

instance. 

The RuleState property returns the rule state of the specified instance. 

The State property returns the instance’s state. Possible states are 

ALARM, WARN, OK and OFFLINE. 

The WorstParam property returns the name of the instances's worst 

parameter. 


PATROL Parameters Collection Object 

Item Method 



The PATROL Parameters Collection object implements the 

IPatrolParametersCollection interface and is a collection of PATROL 

parameter objects. The IPatrolParametersCollection interface is a 

collection interface that allows collection items to be accessed and 

enumerated from VBA or VB by using the For Each keyword. The 

IPatrolParametersCollection interface supports the following methods 

and properties. 

The Item method returns an PatrolParameter object based on the index 

parameter that is passed. 

Syntax 


expression Required. An expression that returns a PatrolParameter object 

Index Required. Specifies a string that is the parameter name or specifies 

a long integer that is the number of the item in the collection 

The Refresh method rediscovers all the PatrolParameter objects for a 

specified host. This method is particularly useful for updating the status 

of PATROL parameters. 

Syntax 




parameter objects in the collection. 



PATROL Parameter Object 



The PATROL Parameter object represents a PATROL parameter. 

The PATROL Parameter object implements the IPatrolParameter 

interface which supports the following methods and properties. 





The optional TypeFilter parameter specifies the type of events to be 

returned. If TypeFilter is omitted, then only STATE_CHANGE events are 

returned. 

Syntax 






are: 



• E - ERROR 


• A - ALARM 


For example: 


INFORMATION 




is used. 


DumpHistory Method 

The DumpHistory method returns the History object (See “History 

Object” on page 5-31.) that contains History Point objects (See 

“PATROL History Point” on page 5-32.) for the parameter. The history 

interval is determined by the Start and End parameters. Averages are 

calculated based on the AverageIntervalType parameter. If the 

AverageIntervalType parameter is omitted, then no averages are 

calculated. 

Syntax 

expression.DumpHistory(StartTime, EndTime, [AverageIntervalType]) 

expression Required. An expression that returns a PatrolParameter 

object 

StartTime Required. The starting time of the history interval, 


EndTime Required. The ending time of the history interval, 


AverageIntervalType Optional. A long integer specifying an averaging 

interval. Possible values are: 

0 - no averages 

1 - calculate averages every minute 

2 - calculate averages every hour 

3 - calculate averages every day 

4 - calculate averages every week 

5 - calculate averages every month 




GetAlarm1 Method 




the specified parameter. 

Syntax 


expression Required. An expression that returns a PatrolParameter 

object 









The GetAlarm1 method returns the Alarm1 range for the specified 

parameter. 

Syntax 

expression.GetAlarm1() 



GetAlarm2 Method 

GetBorder Method 

The GetAlarm2 Method returns the Alarm2 range for the specified 

parameter. 

Syntax 

expression.GetAlarm2() 

The GetBorder method returns the border threshold range for the 

specified parameter. 

Syntax 

GetHistoryPointState Method 


expression.GetBorder() 

expression Required. An expression that returns a PatrolParameter object. 

The GetHistoryPointState method returns a string that represents the 

state of the parameter if the value of the specified parameter is 

PointValue. 

For example, if you want to determine whether or not a parameter will go 

into alarm or warning if its value is 25, you would enter 25 as the 

PointValue. The GetHistoryPointState method would check the Alarm 

and Warning ranges for the specified parameter and returns whether that 

parameter would be in Alarm or Warning or OK if its value was 25. 

Syntax 

expression.GetHistoryPointState(PointValue) 


PointValue A long integer specifying the value to be analyzed 




History Method 




variable for the specified PATROL parameter. 

Syntax 




variable 

The History method returns the HistoryCollection object that contains 

the number of history points specified by the nMaxReturn parameter. 

Syntax 

expression.History(nMaxReturn) 


nMaxReturn An integer specifying the number of history points to retrieve 

from the PATROL Agent 

The Refresh method refreshes the properties for the specified parameter, 

such as state and value. 

Syntax 


expression Required. An expression that returns a PatrolParameter object. 


ApplicationName Property 

AutoScale Property 

InstanceName Property 

FullName Property 

Name Property 

OutputMode Property 

PollInterval Property 

Retries Property 

The ApplicationName property returns the name of the application class 

of the parameter. 

The AutoScale property returns parameter's auto scale property. 

The InstanceName property returns the name of the instance class of 

parameter. 

The FullName property returns parameter's full name, including the 

parent application name, the instance name, and the name of the 

parameter. 

The Name property returns the parameter's name. 

The OutputMode property returns parameter's output mode. 

The PollInterval property returns the parameter's polling interval. 

The Retries property returns the parameter's number of retries. 



SetYMax Property 

SetYMin Property 


TimeStamp Property 

Value Property 

History Object 


The SetYMax property returns the parameter's set Y max property. 

The SetYMin property returns the parameter's set Y min property. 

The State property returns the parameter's state. Possible values are 

ALARM, WARNING, OK, and OFFLINE. 

The TimeStamp property returns parameter's time stamp. 

The Value property returns the parameter's value. 

The History object implements the IHistory interface and is a collection 

of History Point objects. IHistory interface is a collection interface that 

allows collection items to be accessed from VBA or VB by using the For 

Each keyword. 


Item Method 


The Item method returns the HistoryPoint object based on the index 

passed. 

Syntax 


PATROL History Point 

Time Property 

Value Property 

expression Required. An expression that returns a HistoryPoint object 

Index A long integer that specifies the number of the item in the 

collection 


history point objects in the collection. 

The PATROL History Point object represents a point of history for a 

PATROL object and implements IHistoryPoint interface. 

There are no methods for this object. However, the PATROL History 

Point object supports the following properties. 

The Time property returns time of the history point. 

The Value property returns value of the history point. 



PATROL Events Collection Object 

Item Method 



The PATROL Events Collection object implements the 

IPatrolEventsCollection interface and is a collection of PATROL Event 

objects. The IPatrolEventsCollection interface is a collection interface 

that allows collection items to be accessed from VBA or VB by using the 

For Each keyword. 

The Item method returns the PatrolEvent object based on the index 

passed. 

Syntax 


PATROL Event Object 

AcknowledgeCommand Property 

expression Required. An expression that returns a PatrolEvent object 

Index A long integer that specifies the number of the item in the 

collection 

The Count property returns the number of event objects in the collection. 

The PATROL Event object represents a PATROL event and implements 

the IPatrolEvent interface. 

There are no methods for this object. However, the IPatrolEvent interface 

supports the following properties. 

The AcknowledgeCommand property returns the acknowledge command 

sent for this event catalog and class. 


Arguments Property 

CatalogDescription Property 

CatalogName Property 

ClassName Property 

Description Property 

Diary Property 

EscalationCommand Property 

The Arguments property returns a character string that displays the event 

arguments separated by tab characters. 

The CatalogDescription property returns the description of the specified 

event catalog and class. 

The CatalogName property returns the name of the PATROL event 

catalog to which the event belongs. 

The ClassName property returns the name of the PATROL event class 

within the PATROL event catalog to which the event belongs. 

The Description property returns the string description that was produced 

for the event. 

The Diary property returns the string that was entered into the diary for 

the event. 

The EscalationCommand property returns the escalation command sent 

for this event catalog and class. 



Expectancy Property 

ExpertAdvice Property 

FirstDynamicArgument Property 

Handler Property 

HostName Property 

ID Property 

Name Property 

NotifyCommand Property 


The Expectancy property returns the life expectancy and disposition of 

the event. 

The ExpertAdvice property returns the expert advice string. 

The FirstDynamicArgument property returns the PATROL Event 

Manager’s first dynamic argument. 

The Handler property returns the user ID of the person who performed 

last acknowledge or delete action on the event. 

The HostName property returns the host that produced the event. 

The ID property returns the event ID. 

The Name property returns the name of the event within the PATROL 

event class. 

The NotifyCommand property returns the notify command send for this 



Origin Property 

Owner Property 

SecondDynamicArgument Property 

Severity Property 

SnmpSupport Property 

Status Property 

Time Property 

Type Property 

The Origin property returns the application, instance, parameter or class 

that produced the event. 

The Owner property returns the user ID that owns the event. 

The SecondDynamicArgument property returns the PATROL Event 

Manager’s second dynamic argument. 

The Severity property returns the severity of the event. 

The SnmpSupport property returns whether an SNMP trap is sent for this 


The Status property returns the event status. Events can have a status of 

open, acknowledged, closed, escalated, or deleted. 

The Time property returns the time stamp indicating the system clock 

time at the moment that the event was produced. 

The Type property returns the event type. Possible event types include 

INFORMATION, STATE_CHANGE, ERROR, WARNING, ALARM, 

and RESPONSE. 



Sample Programs 


These sample programs demonstrate the use of some of the PATROL 

Adapter for Microsoft Office objects, methods, and properties discussed 

in the “Summary of COM Server VBA Objects” on page 5-5. 

Displaying the States of Hosts in a Collection 

Private Sub Command1_Click() 

On Error GoTo Error_Handler 

The following sample program creates a PATROL hosts collection object 

using the New keyword and adds two PATROL Agent host objects into 

the PATROL hosts collection. The program then enumerates through the 

collection and displays a message box that lists the names and states of 

hosts in the collection that are in Alarm or Warning states. 

Set hc = New PatrolHostsCollection 

Dim host As PatrolAgentHost 

Set host = hc.CreateHostObject("kermit", 2682, "jhenso", "piggy", "") 

Set host = hc.CreateHostObject("gonzo", 3181, "rsmith", "nose", "") 

For Each host In hc 

If host.State = "WARN" Or host.State = "ALARM" Then 

MsgBox "Host " & host.HostName & " is in the " & host.State & " 

state" 

End If 

Next 

Exit Sub 

' Handle the connection error 

Error_Handler: 

Dim str As String 

str = Err.Description + Chr$(10) + Chr$(13) 

MsgBox str 

End Sub 


Accessing Host Applications 

You can access applications for a PATROL Agent host object by 

discovering all of the applications for a host or you can bypass the 

discovery process and access the application directly if you know the 

name of the application. 

The following sample programs illustrate the ways to access applications 

for a host. 

Discovering All Applications for a Host 

The following sample program creates a PATROL hosts collection using 

the New keyword and adds a host to the collection. The program 

discovers all the applications for that host, enumerates the collection of 

PATROL application objects, and displays the names and states of the 

applications for that host. 

If you want to return a specific application, the sample program in 

“Accessing Host Applications Without Going Through Discovery” on 

page 5-39 is faster than discovering all the applications for a host. 


On Error Resume Next 



Set host = hc.CreateHostObject("elmo", 1987, "fred", "tickleme", "") 

Dim apps As PatrolApplicationsCollection 

Dim app As PatrolApplication 

' Discover applications 

Set apps = host.Applications 

For Each app In apps 

If app.State = "WARN" Or app.State = "ALARM" Then 

MsgBox "Application " & app.Name & " is in the " & app.State 

& " state" 

End If 

Next 

End Sub 



Accessing Host Applications Without Going Through Discovery 


On Error Resume Next 


The following sample program creates a PATROL hosts collection object 

using the New keyword and adds a host to the PATROL hosts collection. 

Then the program bypasses discovery of all the applications for the host 

by requesting a specific application. 



Set host = hc.CreateHostObject("beaker", 1987, "jones", "squeak", "") 


' Ask PATOL Host object for the PATROL Application 

Set app = host.GetApplication("NT_CPU") 

If app Is Nothing Then 

MsgBox "No App with such name exists" 

End if 

End Sub 


Retrieving History Information for a Host 


The following sample program creates a PATROL hosts collection using 

the New keyword and adds a PATROL Agent host object into the 

collection. The program retrieves the history for the specified host for 

one day, averaged each hour. 

Dim hc As PatrolHostsCollection 



Set host = hc.CreateHostObject("bert", 3182, "jrinn", "ernie", "") 

Dim hist As PatrolHistory, histPoint As PatrolHistoryPoint 

Set hist = host.DumpHistory(#3/29/00#, #3/30/00#, “NT_CPU”, _ 

“CPU_0”, “CPUprcrProcessorTimePercent”, 2) 


' Get application object 

Set app = host.GetApplication(“NT_CPU”) 

End Sub 



Reporting the Number of Events That Occur Within a Specific 

Time Period 


The following sample code illustrates the use of the EventReport method 

to return the number of warnings and alarms for an application that occur 

between specific dates. 

Dim NumWarnings As Long, NumAlarms As Long 

Dim dtStart as Date, dtEnd As Date 

dtStart = #04/06/00# 

dtEnd = #04/07/00# 

Call app.EventReport(dtStart, dtEnd, NumWarnings, NumAlarms) 

MsgBox "Application" & app.Name & " had " & NumWarnings & " Warnings" 

MsgBox "Application" & app.Name & " had " & NumAlarms & " Alarms" 




Index 

-add argument 4-10 

-average argument 4-10 

-encrpassword argument 4-9 

-end argument 4-9 

-group argument 4-10 

-host argument 4-3 

-html argument 4-10 

-interval argument 4-10 

-objects argument 4-3 

-password argument 4-3 

-port argument 4-3 

-rtype argument 4-10 

-s argument 4-11 

-start argument 4-9 

-template argument 4-9 

-type argument 4-9 

-u argument 4-11 

-user argument 4-3 

-v argument 4-11 

-xlFile argument 4-10 

-xlPassword argument 4-11 

A 

accessing online help 2-10 

adding objects to the report argument 4-10 

Agent 


Index 

list of supported 1-6 

no history for PATROL 3.2.09 1-7 

preloading knowledge modules 2-4 

Alarm and Warning Summary Report 

description 3-12 

Alarm and Warning Trend Report 


application objects 

returning in a visual basic program 5-10 

returning the number in the collection 

5-14 

Applications property 

PATROL Agent Host 5-11 

arguments 

for GUI mode 4-3 

for silent mode 4-8 

averaging argument 4-10 

averaging data 

recommended 3-14 

B 

background 

running report generator utility in 4-11 

batch file 

creating for report generator utility 4-13 

Index 1

C 

collecting 

event data 1-5 

history data 1-5 

text parameter data 1-7 

collection time for data argument 4-10 

command arguments 

for GUI mode 4-3 

for silent mode 4-8 

command line 

generating reports from 2-10, 4-2 

command line interface 


command syntax, report generator utility 4-3 

components 

list of 1-2 

configuring PATROL to generate reports 2-2 

connecting 

a PATROL Agent in visual basic 5-12 

connection information 

saving 3-5 

conventions, document xv 

Count property 

PATROL Applications Collection object 

5-14 

count property 

PatrolHostsCollection object 5-7 

CreateHostObject 

syntax 5-6 

CreateHostObject method 5-6 

creating 

custom reports 3-9 

PATROL Host Object 5-4 

PatrolAgentHost object 5-6 

predefined reports 3-16 

reports in batch mode 4-13 

custom report 

basing on a predefined report 3-7 

generating with the report wizard 3-9 

D 

2 PATROL Adapter for Microsoft Office User Guide 

saving in HTML format 3-24 

data averaging 

argument 4-10 

recommended 3-14 

data grouping argument 4-10 

data time collected argument 4-10 

description and syntax 5-6 

document conventions xv 

DumpEvents method 


PATROL Agent Host object 5-8 

syntax 5-8 

DumpHistory method 



syntax 5-9 

E 

EncrPassword property 


encrypted password 

retrieving in visual basic 5-12 

encrypted password argument 4-9 

end date argument 4-9 

event data 

collecting 1-5 

event objects 

returning in a visual basic program 5-8 

event retention 1-5 

executing 

PSL script in a visual basic program 

5-11 

exporting reports to a file 3-25 


F 

features 

list of 1-3 

From Previous Number of Days, Hours field 

3-18 

G 

generating reports 

based on predefined reports 3-7 

from a command line 2-10, 4-2 

from a PATROL Console 2-9 

predefined 3-4 

using the report generator utility 4-2 

using the report wizard 3-9 

without a PATROL Console 2-4 

without dialog boxes 4-3 

GetApplication method 



syntax 5-10, 5-16, 5-21 

GetPatrolVariable method 



syntax 5-11 

GetVariable method 

syntax 5-17, 5-22, 5-29 

grouping argument 4-10 

grouping options 3-20 

GUI mode 

command arguments 4-3 

starting report generator utility in 4-2 

H 

hardware platforms supported 1-6 

help 


accessing for report generator utility 

4-14 

accessing hover help 2-10 

accessing what’s this help 2-10 

History Collection object 

returning through DumpHistory method 

5-9, 5-10 

history data, collecting 1-5 

history points 

returning in a visual basic program 5-9, 

5-10 

History Report 


unavailable for PATROL 3.2.09 1-6 

history retention 1-5 

host 

saving connection information 3-5 

specifying in the report generator utility 

4-3 

host name 

retrieving through HostName property 

5-12 

HostName property 


hover help 2-10 

HTML format 

saving in HTML argument 4-10 

saving reports in 3-22 

I 

importing reports 3-26 

Item method 



5-13 

syntax 5-13 

Index 3

K 

knowledge modules 

preloading on Agent 2-4 

L 

launching 

report generator utility 2-10, 4-3 

report wizard from Microsoft Excel 2-8 

reports from a PATROL Console 2-9 

visual basic editor 5-3 

limitations 1-7 

M 

methods 

including in visual basic programs 5-3 

Microsoft Excel 

saving reports in 3-21 

specifying passwords for reports 4-11 

starting report wizard from 2-8 

Microsoft Office 2000 

running PATROL Adapter for Microsoft 

Office under an account that is not the 

install account 2-3 

Microsoft Office versions supported 1-6 

N 

NT registry 

where custom reports are stored 3-16 

O 

object library 

including in programs 5-3 


object types field 3-20 

objects 

adding to the report 4-10 

argument 4-3 

including in visual basic programs 5-3 

online documentation xiv 

online help 

accessing 2-10 

accessing for report generator utility 

4-14 

operating systems supported 1-6 

Outage Report 


overview 1-2 

P 

parameters 

needed by report generator utility 4-2 

text 1-7 

password 

argument for Excel files 4-11 

argument for host account 4-3 

encrypted 4-9 

passwords 

retrieving encrypted passwords in visual 

basic 5-12 

PATROL 3.2.09 Agent 

cannot collect history data for 1-7 

PATROL Agent 

activating history and event retention for 

2-4 

connecting to in visual basic 5-12 

preloading knowledge modules 2-4 

retrieving version number in visual basic 

5-12 


PATROL Application object 

returning through GetApplication 

Method 5-10 



returning through the Item method 5-13 

summary 5-13 

PATROL Console 

generating reports from 2-9 

generating reports without 2-4 

PATROL Events Collection object 

returning through DumpEvents Method 

5-8 

PATROL Host Object 

creating 5-4 

PATROL Hosts Collection object 

methods and properties 5-5 

PATROL releases supported 1-6 

PATROL Reporting Tool wizard 


PatrolAgentHost 

returning based on index 5-7 

PatrolAgentHost object 

creating 5-6 

removing 5-7 

platforms supported 1-6 

port argument 4-3 

port number 

retrieving through PortNumber property 

5-12 

PortNumber property 


predefined report 

creating your own 3-16 

generating 3-4 

list of types 3-12 

using to create a custom report 3-7 

preloading knowledge modules before 

generating reports 2-4 

prgen command 4-3 

PSL script 

executing in a visual basic program 5-11 

PSLExec method 



R 


Refresh method 

syntax 5-14, 5-17, 5-19, 5-22, 5-24, 

5-29 

refreshing reports 3-27 

report generator utility argument 4-11 

registry 


related documentation xiv 

release notes xiv 

RemoveHostObject method 


removing 

PatrolAgentHost object 5-7 

report data averaging argument 4-10 

report generator utility 

accessing online help 4-14 

adding objects to the report display 

argument 4-10 

amount of time data is collected 

argument 4-10 

arguments for GUI mode 4-3 

arguments for silent mode 4-8 

automatically update report argument 

4-11 

command syntax 4-3 

data grouping argument 4-10 

displaying report in Excel spreadsheet 

argument 4-11 

encrypted host password argument 4-9 

end date argument 4-9 

generating reports without dialog boxes 

4-8 

overview 4-2 

report data averaging argument 4-10 

report type argument 4-9 

save report to Excel file argument 4-10 

Index 5

saving in HTML format argument 4-10 

silent mode argument 4-11 

specify host argument 4-3 

specify password for Excel file 

argument 4-11 

specify template argument 4-9 

specifying objects argument 4-3 

specifying password for host argument 

4-3 

specifying port argument 4-3 

specifying user name argument 4-3 

start date argument 4-9 

starting 2-10 

time range argument 4-10 

using to create reports in batch mode 

4-13 

report template wizard 

template fields not requires 3-17 

using to create custom predefined 

reports 3-17 

report type argument 4-9 

report types 

list of 3-12 

report wizard 

importing reports into 3-26 

restarting 3-6, 3-9 

starting from Microsoft Excel 2-8 

using to generate custom reports 3-9 

reports 

Alarm and Warning Summary Report 


Alarm and Warning Trend Report 


basing a custom report on a predefined 

report 3-7 

creating in batch mode 4-13 

creating your own predefined reports 

3-16 

displaying in a Microsoft Excel 

spreadsheet 4-11 


exporting to a file 3-25 

generating a custom report 3-9 

generating a predefined report 3-4 

generating from a command line 2-10, 

4-2 

generating from a PATROL Console 2-9 

generating without a PATROL Console 

2-4 

History Report description 3-12 

importing into the report wizard 3-26 

Outage Report description 3-12 

saving as a Microsoft Excel file 3-21 

saving in HTML format 3-22 

updating 3-27 

restarting 

report wizard 3-6, 3-9 

retention 

event 1-5 

history 1-5 

S 

saving 

host connection information 3-5 

report templates to a file 3-25 

reports as a Microsoft Excel file 3-21 

reports in HTML format 3-22 

saving report to Microsoft Excel file 

argument 4-10 

schedule options 3-18 

end date for data collection argument 

4-9 

start date for data collection argument 

4-9 

time interval argument 4-10 


shortcut 

adding to Microsoft Excel 2-3 

silent mode 

command arguments 4-8 


starting report generator utility in 4-2 

silent mode argument 4-11 

start date argument 4-9 

Start to End field 3-18 

starting 

report generator utility in GUI mode 4-2 

report generator utility in silent mode 

4-2 

report wizard from Microsoft Excel 2-8 

reports from a command line 2-10 

reports from a PATROL Console 2-9 

summary 5-7 

supported platforms 1-6 

syntax 

report generator utility 4-3 

T 

template argument 4-9 

template fields 

not required for report template wizard 

3-17 

templates 

not created by saving as a Microsoft 

Excel file 3-21 

saving to a file 3-25 

text parameters 

cannot be displayed 1-7 

time data is collected argument 4-10 


type argument 4-9 

U 

update argument 4-11 

updating reports 3-27 

user argument 4-3 

user name 


retrieving through UserName property 

5-12 

UserName property 


V 

Version property 


visual basic 

connecting to a PATROL Agent 5-12 

executing PSL script in 5-11 

retrieving encrypted passwords 5-12 

retrieving PATROL Agent version 

number 5-12 

returning a PATROL Application object 

5-13 

returning an application object 5-10 

returning an event object 5-8 

returning history points 5-9, 5-10 

returning the number of application 

objects in a collection 5-14 

visual basic editor 

launching 5-3 

visual basic methods 

summary of 5-5 

visual basic objects 

summary of 5-5 

Visual Basic objects and methods 


W 

Web 

displaying reports on 3-22 

what’s this help 2-10 

Windows NT registry 


wizard 

Index 7

X 

importing reports into 3-26 

restarting 3-6, 3-9 

starting from Microsoft Excel 2-8 

using to create custom reports 3-9 

XLT Install utility 

running 2-3 




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