COSMOS User's Guide


COSMOS Web component library

COSMOS defines a set of web-based components that provides access to the underlying COSMOS services. These web-based components can be configured and integrated with each other to create a very dynamic web based application.

Each Web component provides one of the following basic actions.


Table 2. COSMOS Web action components

Action Component COSMOS provided action component Purpose
Navigate Data Manager Navigator The Data Manager Navigator displays a list of data managers that are registered with a broker. The end user uses this user interface component to submit queries to a particular data manager.
Query Basic federated configuration management database Query Dialog This dialog provides a simple text input box to submit a federated configuration management database query document to an MDR.
Federated configuration management database Query Builder Dialog This web based component provides a dialog box to construct a federated configuration management database query document and submit the constructed document to an MDR. End users familiar with the federated configuration management database query document structure use this dialog box to construct a federated configuration management database query document instead of hand typing the document. The query builder processes the service meta data from an MDR to determine what kind of query capabilities the user is allowed to specify.
View XML Viewer This view visualizes the structure of a XML document as a tree structure. The user has the ability to expand and collapse nodes to explore the XML structure. The names of the tree nodes correspond to the element names.
Frame Viewer This view provides a frame to embed HTML content. This web component is used to embed HTML content from external systems. For example, reports generated from a reporting system can be embedded in this component. This allows an application to compose pages that are made up of content from various external sources.
Properties Viewer This view displays name value pairs within a table. The properties view displays the property names and values of a selected item within a table. The user can select an item using other web components. For example, the user can select a node within the Data Manager Navigator.
Federated configuration management database Graph Response Viewer This view visualizes the structure of a federated configuration management database response document. The CMDBf Graph Response Viewer contains two sections. The top sections is composed of a table that shows the list of nodes and edges. The first column of the table lists the set of sources nodes, the second column lists the edges while the third column lists the target. As a result, the user can determine how the nodes relate to each other by viewing this table. The user can select a template id from the drop down box to filter the nodes and edges shown in the table. The detail section shown at the bottom of the view displays the contents of a particular item or edge that is selected in the above table. The detail section shows the templateId, mdrId and localId of the selected item. The table shown below displays the list of records associated with the item or relationship. There is a green circle icon, with a white cross, that is shown to the left of each Record ID. When this icon is clicked, a dialog box displays the XML representation of the record detail.
Manage Configuration Item Registration Dialog This dialog box provides the ability for users to register configuration items to a federating CMDB
Configuration Item DeRegistration Dialog This dialog box provides the ability for users to deregister configuration items to a federating CMDB.
Utility Error Dialog This dialog box displays error message to the user.
Progress Dialog This dialog box indicates that the user should wait for an action to complete.

Data Manager Navigator

This web component is composed of a tree widget that contains the list of registered data managers that are the top level nodes. Icons can be be associated with each node to visually distinguish between data managers.

These actions can be initiated on a node.

Basic CMDBf query dialog

An application can configure the Data Manager Navigator component to show this dialog box by selecting the Submit a Query menu option. Typically, the user would right-click the MDR to which they want to submit a query. This opens a pop-up menu with an option to Submit a Query.

The user would then type in the CMDBf query document they would like to send. Once the user is done creating the query document they would click on the "Submit" button to send the document to the MDR.

Once the user submits the a node is added under the selected MDR that represents the query.

CMDBf query builder dialog

The application can configure the Data Manager Navigator component to show this dialog box by selecting the Submit a Query menu option. Typically, the user would right-click the MDR to which they want to submit a query. This opens a pop up menu with an option to Submit a Query.

The query builder is composed of three panes. The top level pane manages the <itemTemplate> and <relationshipTemplate> nodes of a CMDBf query document. Users can add and remove itemTemplate and relationshipTemplate nodes within this pane. The top level nodes in the tree shows the list of itemTemplates defined in the query. <relationshipTemplate> nodes are defined as children nodes of an <itemTemplate>. Adding a <relationshipTemplate> underneath an <itemTemplate> node indicates that the parent node of the <relationshipTemplate> is the source template and the child node of the <relationshipTemplate> is the target template. Consider the following illustration.
Graphic showing a tree view of template nodes
This image illustrates a query that has two <itemTemplate> nodes. The first <itemTemplate> has an id set to user while the second <itemTemplate> has an id set to computer. The pane further shows that a <relationshipTemplate> is defined where the source template node is the user and the target template node is the computer. Furthermore, the name of the relationshipTemplate is set to usage.

To add an <itemTemplate> the user can right click the query node in the top pane and select Add Item. A dialog box prompts the user to enter the id of the <itemTemplate>. To add a <relationshipTemplate> the user can right click an <itemTemplate> node and select Add Relationship. This prompts the user with a dialog box that allows the user to enter the id of the <relationshipTemplate> and the id of the target template. Note that a drop-down box is provided that lists existing itemTemplates. The user should note that if the MDR does not support queries that include <relationshipTemplate> nodes the user will not have the ability to add <relationshipTemplate> nodes.

The bottom left pane manages the structure of an <itemTemplate> or <relationshipTemplate> element that is selected in the top pane. The user can add query capabilities to these elements. The types of capabilities that the user can add is dictated by what is supported in the service meta data provided by the MDR. The user can right click the top level node to add a particular query capability as shown below:
Graphic showing a query type of Add content selector being selected

The user can add or remove capabilities within this pane. As the user adds capabilities under either an <itemTemplate> or <relationshipTemplate> they are building the XML structure of the <itemTemplate> or <relationshipTemplate> element. Consider the following illustration.


Illustration showing an item Template structure

This tree structure produces the following XML structure under the <itemTemplate> element.

<s:itemTemplate id="user" suppressFromResult="false" >
      <s:recordConstraint >
         <s:recordType namespace="" localName="" >
         </s:recordType>
      </s:recordConstraint>

At any point the user can preview the CMDB query document by clicking the Preview XML button. A pop up box will display the XML document that represents the query.

Once the user is done creating the query document they would click on the "Submit" button to send the document to the MDR.

Once the user submits the a node is added under the selected MDR that represents the query.

Configuration item registration dialog

An application can configure the Data Manager Navigator component to show this dialog box by selecting the Register Configuration Items... menu option. Typically, the user would right-click a federating CMDB that they want to have register configuration items. This opens a pop up menu with an option to Register Configuration Items....

The dialog box presents the user with a list of MDRs that they can select. When the user clicks the Register button all the configuration items associated with the selected MDRs will be registered with the federating CMDB. A response is returned from the federating CMDB that indicates if the configuration items were registered successfully. The response is displayed to the user as a list of configuration items. The display also indicates if the registration request for each configuration item was approved or declined.

Configuration item deregistration dialog

It is possible to configure the Data Manager Navigator component so that this dialog box is shown when the user selects the Deregister Configuration Items... menu option. Typically, the user would right-click a federating CMDB that want to have deregister configuration items. This opens a pop up menu with an option to Deregister Configuration Items....

The dialog box presents the user with a list of MDRs that they can select. When the user clicks the Deregister button all the configuration items associated with the selected MDRs will be deregistered with the federating CMDB. A response is returned from the federating CMDB that indicates if the configuration items were deregistered successfully. The response is displayed to the user as a list of configuration items. The display also indicates if the deregistration request for each configuration item was approved or declined.

Error dialog

When an error occurs this dialog box is presented to the user.
Illustration of error dialog

The error dialog displays a message and a details message to the user. The user can expand or collapse the details message by clicking the 'Details' bar as shown in this illustration.
Detailed error dialog

Progress dialog

This dialog indicates that user must wait for an action to complete.
Illustration of a progress bar indicating that a process is running and showing how near it is to completing.


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