Designing and Managing Behavior Models - Alarm Actions - Perl Subroutine -
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Perl Subroutine

The Perl Subroutine alarm action enables you to execute a Perl subroutine when a particular alarm transition occurs. This action is similar to the Command action in that it enables you to execute a script. However, the Perl Subroutine action can be much more powerful than the Command action because:

• NerveCenter provides a set of functions for use in Perl subroutines. These functions enable you to access the contents of a trigger's variable bindings, fire triggers, assign property groups to nodes, and so on. For complete information about these functions, see the section Functions for Use in Perl Subroutines.
• NerveCenter provides a set of variables for use in Perl subroutines that give you access to a great deal of internal NerveCenter information about the alarm transition that just occurred. For details, see the section NerveCenter Variables.

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     You can call Perl subroutines defined outside of NerveCenter from the command line; however, these Perl subroutines use the Perl interpreter installed by the user and not the Perl engine embedded in NerveCenter. Also, Perl programs run outside of NerveCenter will not have access to any NerveCenter variables or data structures.

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Using these functions and variables, you can create scripts that you could not write using another language. The section Perl Subroutine Example presents an example of how you might use the Perl Subroutine action.

 
  To add a Perl Subroutine to a transition:

1. Define the Perl subroutine. This task is documented in the section Defining a Perl Subroutine.
2. From the Transition Definition window, select the New Action button.

   A pop-up menu listing all alarm actions is displayed.

3. Select Perl Subroutine from the pop-up menu.

   The Perl Subroutine Action dialog is displayed.

   

4. Select a Perl subroutine from the Name drop-down list.

   This list contains all the compiled Perl subroutines stored in the NerveCenter database.

5. Select the OK button in the Perl Subroutine Action dialog.
6. Select the OK button in the Transition Definition window.
7. Select the Save button in the Alarm Definition window.