CI Relationship Viewer - Creating your own icons.

How can I configure the CI RELATIONSHIP VIEWER to use my own icons?

Product
CMDB 2.x ONLY CIVIEWER
Environment
ALL
Solution

1) Each icon used for a CI is used based on the Class ID. (Keep in mind that class name and class ID are different)

2) If there isn't an icon for the CIs Class ID in the BMC_UIComponent form, then a question mark icon is displayed. (You will see this for newly created classes)

3) You can add icons for newly created classes in the BMC_UIComponent form. (Make sure you enter the class ID in the ComponentRelatedClassID field and set the ComponentType to "Icon". Easiest way is to make a copy of an existing entry by pressing Ctrl+T and modifying it)

4) You can have multiple icons for the same class and then set it up so that different instances of the class use different icons based on some criteria as explained below:
a. First the CI Viewer will retrieve all icons for the given Class ID.
b. If it finds more than one icon with the same precedence value (ComponentTag4), then it looks at the ComponentQual.
c. If it finds more than one icon, then it will look the number in ComponentTag4. (Higher number has higher precedence)
d. In ComponentQual, you can give qualifications like - $OwnerName$="BMC", where OwnerName is an attribute of the class. In this case, if the instance has OwnerName set to BMC, then that icon is used. You can form qualifications using any attributes of the class.
e. If you make a change in the BMC_UIComponent form, then it will take 10 minutes to get it reflected in the CI Viewer (it retrieves the icons every 10 minutes). I you restart the Mid-Tier, you can see the changes immediately.

Background Information:

1. For every core class in CMDB 2.0 we supply default icons within the civiewer.jar file
therefore you will always see an icon representing each CI within the class.

2. CIVIEWER performs a recache of all the icons every 10 minutes, alternatively if you restart your Midtier this
will speed up the process of adding your own icons.

Reference material for civiewer can be found in the help files as supplied with CMDB and the manuals for CMDB

For example:

The CI Relationship Viewer displays a specific icon to represent each instance, and when you mouse over an instance it also displays a tooltip containing attribute values for the instance. Both the icon and the list of attributes in the tooltip are based on the class being displayed and some other factors, and you can add and modify icons and tooltips in your BMC Atrium CMDB.

Icons and tooltips are both stored as instances of the BMC.CORE.CONFIG:BMC_UIComponent class. You specify the properties of an icon or tooltip using the attributes with names beginning with Component.
Icons
There is an instance of BMC_UIComponent for each CI class in the CDM to define an icon to represent that class in the CI Relationship Viewer. You can modify these icons, create new icons to represent classes outside of the CDM, or create multiple icons for the same class.
You can use multiple icons for the same class to:
· Display different icons for different sets of instances of the class. For example, you might use one icon to represent desktop computer instances of BMC_ComputerSystem and another to represent laptop computer instances.
· Display different icons in different locales. For example, you might change the colors of your icons for a locale where your original colors carry an unwanted meaning.
· Display different icons in different data consumer products. Because instances of BMC_UIComponent are available to any BMC Atrium CMDB client just like instances in your data model, those clients can make use of icons you store here. For example, BMC Foundation Discovery and BMC Topology Discovery displays these icons in its interface.

To define an icon
· Create or modify an instance of BMC_UIComponent, entering values for these attributes:
· ClassId-Type BMC_UICOMPONENT.
· ComponentAttachment-Attach the image file of your icon.
· ComponentLocale-Type the locale where this icon should be displayed. When a client requests an icon under a locale for which there is no icon defined, the en_US icon is displayed.
· ComponentName-Optionally, type a name for the icon.
· ComponentQual-Optionally, type a qualification that specifies which instances of the class in ComponentRelatedClassId are represented by this icon.
· ComponentRelatedClassId-Type the class ID of the class this icon represents.
· ComponentTag1-Type the name of the application that owns the icon. It should be a name other than BMC_CMDB, which is used for icons supplied by the BMC Atrium CMDB.
· ComponentTag2-Optionally, type an integer from 1 to 5 to indicate the size of the icon, with a smaller number meaning a smaller size. For a standard 32-by-32-pixel icon, specify 3. This is the default for the icons shipped with the BMC Atrium CMDB.
In this release, ComponentTag2 is stored but not used.
· ComponentTag3-Optionally, type an integer to specify the format of the file attachment in ComponentAttachment:
· 1-JPEG
· 2-BMP
· 3-GIF
· 4-TIFF
· 5-PNG
In this release, ComponentTag3 is stored but not used.
· ComponentTag4-Type an integer to specify the precedence value of this icon. When more than one icon's ComponentLocale and ComponentQual match an instance to be represented in the CI Relationship Viewer, the icon with the highest precedence value is displayed. The icons shipped with the BMC Atrium CMDB all have a precedence value of 10.
· ComponentType-Select Icon.
Tooltips
There is an instance of BMC_UIComponent for each CI class in the CDM to define a tooltip listing attribute values for that class in the CI Relationship Viewer. You can modify these tooltips, create new tooltips to represent classes outside of the CDM, or create multiple tooltips for the same class.
To define a tooltip
· Create or modify an instance of BMC_UIComponent, entering values for these attributes:
· ClassId-Type BMC_UICOMPONENT.
· ComponentLocale-Type the locale where this tooltip should be displayed. When a client requests a tooltip under a locale for which there is no tooltip defined, the en_US tooltip is displayed.
· ComponentName-Optionally, type a name for the tooltip.
· ComponentQual-Optionally, type a qualification that specifies which instances of the class in ComponentRelatedClassId display the attributes listed in this tooltip.
· ComponentRelatedClassId-Type the class ID of the class for which this tooltip displays attribute values.
· ComponentString-Type the names of the attributes, delimited by commas, for which values are displayed when a user mouses over an instance of the class in ComponentRelatedClassId in the CI Relationship Viewer.
· ComponentTag1-Type the name of the application that owns the tooltip. It should be a name other than BMC_CMDB, which is used for tooltips supplied by the BMC Atrium CMDB.
· ComponentTag4-Type an integer to specify the precedence value of this tooltip. When more than one tooltip's ComponentLocale and ComponentQual match an instance to be represented in the CI Relationship Viewer, the tooltip with the highest precedence value is displayed.
· ComponentType-Select Tooltip.