Dynamic Application Builder Release Notes, version 1.2.0

Version 1.2.0 of the Dynamic Application Builder adds support for SSH credentials, improves parsing options, addresses an issue with authentication handling, and adds a number of other improvements throughout the builder.

  • Minimum Required SL1 Version: 11.3.0

The Dynamic Application Builder is part of the SL1 Studio suite of tools. For more information, see https://support.sciencelogic.com/s/sl1-studio.

Before You Install or Upgrade

  • Ensure that you are running version 11.3.0 or later of SL1 before installing Dynamic Application Builder version 1.2.0. You must also install Docker Desktop before installing the Dynamic Application Builder.

  • Before upgrading, close the Dynamic Application Builder application and verify that the Docker container is stopped.

For details on upgrading SL1, see the relevant SL1 Platform Release Notes.

Installation or Upgrade Process

To install the Dynamic Application Builder:

  1. See the Before You Install or Upgrade section. If you have not done so already, upgrade your system to the 11.3.0 or later release.
  2. Download the "Dynamic Application Builder" version 1.2.0 .zip file from the Support Site to a local computer.

Installation or Upgrade Process for Windows

  1. Click to run the file marked "DynamicApplicationBuilder-1.2.0.exe".

  2. The installer will place a file named "Dynamic Application Builder" in the Applications menu (Start > Applications > Dynamic Application Builder).

  3. If you upgraded from an old version, uninstall the old version of the Dynamic Application Builder from Programs and Features (Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features)

  4. Click the "Sciencelogic Dynamic Application Builder" file in the Applications menu (Start > Applications > Dynamic Application Builder) to run the application.

Installation or Upgrade Process for OSX

  1. Click to run the file marked "DynamicApplicationBuilder-1.2.dmg".

  2. In the window that appears, drag the file into the Applications folder.

  3. If you are upgrading from an older version, click Replace in the modal that appears.

  4. Open the Applications folder and locate the Dynamic Application Builder.

  5. Click to open the Dynamic Application Builder.

See the manual Building Dynamic Applications for instructions on using the Dynamic Application Builder.

Features

Version 1.2.0 of the Dynamic Application Builder:

  • Allows you to interface with your SL1 system to create PowerPack-able objects programatically.
  • Supports creation of Snippet Configuration Dynamic Applications.
  • Works on MacOS and Windows systems with the Docker Desktop or Docker CE applications.

Enhancements and Issues Addressed

The following enhancements and addressed issues are included in version 1.2.0 of the Dynamic Application Builder:

  • Addressed an issue that caused authentication handling to fail for some API endpoints if no username or password was provided. (Case: 00468178)

  • Added support for SSH credentials.

  • You can now choose between HTTP or SSH credential tabs in the Dynamic Application Builder user interface.

  • You can now run an SSH/CLI command using the SSH Command field on the Retrieve Payloads step and retrieve a response.

  • The SSH command preview/parser selection step contains a tutorial with instructions on possible choices of parsers and settings for converting various CLI command outputs to JSON.

  • After running a successful CLI command, a Choose Parser drop-down field is displayed, which allows you to select the parsing option needed and test it. The parsing options available are:

    • JSON Convert

    • Parse Table Column

    • Parse Table Row

    • Parse Line

    • Regex Parser

  • If the output from running an SSH command is already formatted as JSON, you will see a Go to JSON Selector button that will allow you to skip directly to the collection object page.

  • If you are using an SSH credential, you can skip the "Select Collection Objects" step by clicking the Skip to Define Collection Objects button and manually define your own Snippet Argument.

  • If you are using an HTTP credential, you can now skip the "Select Collection Objects" step by clicking the Skip to Define Collection Objects button and manually define your own Snippet Argument.

  • Added support for RegEx and Parse Line parsers to the SSH/CLI workflow.

  • Added a help button to the "Select Collection Objects" page that links to the jmespath documentation to assist with writing a Snippet Argument. Additionally, a Switch to Multi-Select button was added to assist when changing a single value selector to multiple values.

  • Added two new options when defining collection objects:

    • You can add a new collection object and save it.

    • You can copy an existing collection object.

  • If you select to use a self-signed or invalid certificate, verify:false is now added to the snippet argument for the collection object.

  • Removed the Caching, Device Dashboard, and Component Mapping fields from the Dynamic Application step of the Dynamic Application Builder.

  • Removed the Component Identifier and Formula fields from the "Define Collection Objects" step of the Dynamic Application Builder.

  • Snippet Framework REST custom step errors are now displayed in the Snippet Framework output.

  • You can now delete an undefined node from the list when defining collection objects. Additionally, you will now be prompted to confirm before deleting nodes or collection objects.

  • You can now select an already defined collection object and edit it before exporting to SL1. You can click the Reset button to clear the selected collection object and any edited form fields.

  • You will now see a status code for payload fetches and improved error messaging for failed payload requests on the "Retrieve Payload" step.

Known Issues

The following known issues affect version 1.2.0 of the Dynamic Application Builder PowerPack:

  • If the payload you attempt to fetch is too large, you may have difficulty rendering the entire payload on the “Select Collection Objects” screen. This could cause the page to load slowly, or some rows farther down the page not to load at all. The exact size of payload that causes this problem is currently unknown, but a fix for this issue is planned for a future release of the Dynamic Application Builder.
  • You can create credentials and Dynamic Applications with the same name, but if the duplicate name is selected from the auto-complete box, an error will occur, preventing you from creating the object. If you need to create an object with the same name as another, do not use auto-complete to set the name. Type the name in to avoid this error.
  • If you are on SL1 version 12.1.0, you will see the following traceback, which is a known Snippet Framework issue:

PermissionError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/tmp/collection_metrics.log'

90. During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

91. Traceback (most recent call last):

92. File "/opt/em7/lib/python3/silo_logs/silo_logging.py", line 163, in configure

93. _configure(*vargs, **kwargs)

94. File "/opt/em7/lib/python3/silo_logs/silo_logging.py", line 255, in _configure

95. configure_logging(configs, **kwargs)

96. File "/opt/em7/lib/python3/silo_logs/silo_logging.py", line 267, in configure_logging

97. logging.config.dictConfig(config)

98. File "/usr/lib64/python3.6/logging/config.py", line 802, in dictConfig

99. dictConfigClass(config).configure()

100. File "/usr/lib64/python3.6/logging/config.py", line 573, in configure

101. '%r: %s' % (name, e))

102. ValueError: Unable to configure handler 'metrics_file_handler_tmp': [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/tmp/collection_metrics.log'