Designing and Managing Behavior Models - Alarm Actions - Perl Subroutine - Functions for Use in Perl Subroutines -
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Functions for Use in Perl Subroutines

NerveCenter provides a number of functions that you can use in your Perl subroutines. The list below indicates what types of functions are available and where you can find detailed information about each function:

• Variable-binding functions. These functions enable you to determine the number of variable bindings in a trigger's variable-binding list and to obtain information about each variable binding. For instance, you can retrieve the subobject and attribute associated with a variable-binding and the value of a variable-binding.

  For reference information about these functions, see the section Variable-Binding Functions.

• String-matching functions. These functions enable you to determine whether a string contains another string or a particular word. The functions are useful in conditions that test the value of a variable binding for a substring.

  For reference information about these functions, see the section String-Matching Functions.

• DefineTrigger(). This function enables you to create triggers which you can assign to variables and fire using FireTrigger() in NerveCenter Perl expressions.

  For reference information about this function, see the section DefineTrigger() Function.

• FireTrigger(). This function enables you to fire a trigger from your Perl subroutine. You can specify the name, subobject, and node attributes of the trigger.

  For reference information about this function, see the section FireTrigger() Function.

• AssignPropertyGroup(). This function enables you to assign a property group to the node associated with a trigger.

  For reference information about this function, see the section AssignPropertyGroup() Function.

• in(). This function determines whether one scalar value is in a set of scalar values.

  For reference information about this function, see the section in( ) Function.

• Counter(). This function returns the current value of an alarm counter. For reference information about this function, see the section Counter() Function.
• Node relationship functions. These functions enable you to import, export, and delete node parenting relationships from the NerveCenter database. You can use these functions in Perl subroutines that are called from alarms that you transition on demand. Node Relationship Functions.

Counter() Function

You use the Counter() function to get the value of an alarm counter for a particular alarm instance. The function can only be called from a Perl Subroutine alarm action or an Action Router rule.

The syntax of the Counter() function is shown below:

Counter()

Syntax: Counter("counterName")

Arguments:

counterName - The name of an existing alarm counter.

Description: The function returns the value of the specified counter.

Node Relationship Functions

The following functions import, export, and delete node parenting relationships from the NerveCenter database. You can use these functions in Perl subroutines that are called from alarms that you transition on-demand. One use for these functions is with the downstream alarm suppression behavior model that is shipped with NerveCenter. For more information, refer to the Open white paper, Downstream Alarm Suppression.

LoadParentsFromFile()

Syntax: LoadParentsFromFile(filename)

Arguments:

filename - The name of the OVPA or manually created file containing the child parent relationships. This file should list each child node followed by the parent nodes in space-delimited fashion.

Description: Imports an OVPA or manually created file containing node parenting relationship information into the NerveCenter database.

Example: This statement loads the node relationship file data from the file nodeparents.dat into the NerveCenter database:

DumpParentsToFile()

Syntax: DumpParentsToFile(filename)

Arguments:

filename - The name of the file NerveCenter will output containing the child parent relationships exported from NerveCenter database.

Description: Exports node parenting relationship information from the NerveCenter database to the specified file on the local machine.

Example: This statement exports node relationship information from the NerveCenter database to the file nodeparents.dat:

RemoveAllParents()

Syntax: RemoveAllParents()

Description: Deletes node parenting relationship information from the NerveCenter database.

Example: This statement deletes node relationship information from the NerveCenter database.