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Custom Operator Properties

You can configure a custom operator by modifying the default settings available for the base operator. You can also add input pages and parameters to present a user of the custom operator with specific input settings.

Seven main types of properties exist for each custom operator:

• Form
• Preview
• Settings
• Dataset
• Group Config
• Properties
• Versions
• Audit Trail

For each setting, you would typically:

• Leave it blank and let the user configure it when they use your custom operator.
• Configure it with a predefined value and mark it as invisible, which hides the setting altogether from the user when they use your custom operator.

You can also:

• Configure it with a predefined value, but let the user change the value.
• Configure it with a predefined value and mark it as read-only, which lets the user see but not edit the value.

Example: A Basic Custom Operator

You can create a custom operator that retrieves a specific piece of information from a network router using the Get SNMP Variable operator as its base. As part of your custom operator, configure the appropriate SNMP variable OID and community string, and then set the properties so a user can configure the IP address of the SNMP variable. The Get SNMP Variable operator has the following specific settings:

• Agent Host (IP Address)
• Community
• Object ID (OID)
• Retry Count
• Timeout
• SNMP Version

You would typically configure predefined values and mark as invisible all the settings except for Agent Host. Another designer using this custom operator only sees the Agent Host setting in the Properties palette. All other settings are hidden. Other users can specify the Agent Host to determine the network router where information is sourced. But other users do not need to know the other settings for a Get SNMP Variable operator. As long as they configure the correct IP address, the information in question appears.

Example: An Advanced Custom Operator

As for a more advanced example, you can create an interface to an in-house application using scripting. In this example, you would use the Start Script operator as the base for your custom operator. Then, you would typically specify the extension of the script, the script itself, and other settings such as the parameters to pass to the script. You would typically set these parameters (in fact, every parameter that comes from the base operator) as invisible. You can also create your own settings page to ask a user of your custom operator for some settings that are specific to your operator. As in the simple example above, an end user can then use your custom operator to act upon your in-house application. This technique extends integrated processes without the need to know specifics about how you interface with that application.

More information:

Custom Operator: Properties Tab