Variables

Understanding Variables

Variables are system parameters used to represent a dynamic value.

Some variables, such as Classification or Body, which will hold, respectively, the classification of the current incident or the text of the message that triggered an event, are built-in. You may customize your own list of variables to comply with your own system requirements and use the parsing mechanism to set the variable values as a new event is retrieved by Resolve Actions Express. The variables may then be used by workflow activities. Their values may be updated upon every new instance of an incident, or only upon the first instance. The value may also be changed using the Memory Set activity by selecting the Global type variable.

note

To learn more about events, incidents and parsing refer to Understanding the Resolve Actions Express Data Flow.

The following table sets out Resolve Actions Express' built-in variables:

Variable	Description	Update Method
Body	The body of the triggering message	Every new instance
Classification	The classification (type) of the new Incident	The first instance
Destination	The recipient of the triggering message	The first instance
Device	The originating device of the incident	The first instance
EventName	The device or service of the incident	The first instance
ExternalID	The external application event ID	Every new instance
FirstInstance	Indicates whether or not it is the incident's first instance.	The first instance
HTMLBody	The HTML body of the triggering message	Every new instance
Information	The information of the triggering message	Every new instance
OS	Operating system of the device	Every new instance (this variable is set by default. If an invalid OS is reported then it will be set to Windows 2003 Server).
Process	The process of the new Incident	The first instance
ReturnValue	The returned Value of the last workflow activity	Every new instance
Service	The service of the new incident	The first instance
Severity	The severity of the new incident	The first instance
Site	The site of the new incident	Every new instance
Solution	The solution of the new incident	Every new instance
Source	The source of the triggering message	Every new instance
State	The state of the triggering message	Every new instance
Subject	The subject of the triggering message	Every new instance
System	The system of the new incident	Every new instance

Choose Repository > General and open the Variables list. The following window is displayed:

Managing Variables

The variables list provides the following information:

Column	Description
Type	Variable type: Text (), Table (), or Password ()
Name	Variable name
Variable value	String value or Table indicator
Mode	Update method

To add a variable:

1. Click the plus icon.
   The Variables properties window appears.
2. Enter the variable's Name.
   For example: "Counter".
3. In the Value field, you can enter the variable's initial value.
   This value will or will not change according to its usage.
4. From the Mode field choose one of:
   • Set Variable's Value Only When Incident is Created—The variable is set only once during the incident's lifecycle—to the data received with the event responsible for the incident's creation. Any updated values incoming with other events considered to be part of the same incident, are ignored.
   • Set Variable's Value on Every Incident Update—The variable updates its value every time a new event is received, where one of the pre-parsed properties has the same name.
   • Read-Only Mode—The variable is a constant that cannot be changed.
   • Read-Write Mode—The variable can be modified during a workflow run.
5. In Type, determine whether the format of the variable:
   • Text—Use for string-type data values.
   • Table—Typically used by workflow activities from the Tables category.
   • Password—Use for sensitive string-type data like passwords. These variables' values are masked in the UI and logs and only provided in full to activities or triggers that reference the variable. Note that even though internally activities have access to the unencrypted value, they are prevented from printing or showing it.
6. If the variable holds a table, the table properties will appear:
7. Set the number of rows and columns and, optionally, the names of the columns.
8. Click Save.