Dynamic Text Messages Generation in Workflows

evalink talos allows to retrieve some information dynamically while a workflow is executed and include it in the automatically generated text messages by means of Pebble expressions.

The following data can be accessed and used in text messages:

• the alarm data – the details of a the alarm that is currently being processed
• the step data – the data retrieved from a particular workflow step after it is executed
• the site data – the static information of a site where the workflow operates
• the workflow data – the parameters of the workflow
• other data, for example, the current timestamp

These data can be used as follows:

• printed in the workflow event log report

  This can be done with the help of a custom report template (see section Work with Workflow Steps > Custom Report Template of a Step).

• used in a variety of text fields available in various workflow steps

  Examples of these text fields are:

  • the Subject and Body of an email message in the email Send Email step
  • the alarm message in the desktop_windows Send Alarm to UI step

For examples of using these data in Pebble expressions, see sections Work with Workflow Steps > Custom Report Template of a Step and Work with Workflow Steps > Step Reference.

View the Available Variables

To view the list of variables (parameters) that you can use in text messages:

1. Open any workflow in the workflow editor

2. Select any step that has a Custom Report Template field (see section Operations with a Workflow > Work with Workflow Steps > Custom Report Template of a Step)

3. Click inside the Custom Report Template field and press Ctrl+Space to open the list of variables

You can also view some variable usage hints by clicking the Paste template example link under the Custom Report Template field.

Step Data

Examples of step data are:

• the step completion timestamp
• the data that was obtained during the step execution – for example, some data that was retrieved by evalink talos from an external source via the http Trigger WebHook step

To access step data and use it in a dynamic message, you need to know:

• the parameter name that corresponds to the step

  The name is shown on the UI hint below the Step Reference field of a step (see section Work with Workflow Steps > Step Reference).

  info

  Administrator and Manager can customize the step parameter name – for example, in order to differentiate the data obtained from several occurrences of the same step inside a workflow.

• the attributes available for the current parameter

  The scope of available attributes differs across parameters. The most typical attribute of a step is sometimes displayed in the UI hint under the Step Reference field, see the figure below. The list of the most commonly used step attributes is provided below.

  Attribute names are not customizable.

When the step data contains some data retrieved from an external source (for example, via the http Trigger WebHook step), you may also need to know the parameters and attributes used by the data source in order to parse the data.

The most commonly used step attributes:

• [step].answer – allows to retrieve the result of Automated Decision and Manual Decision steps. This attribute returns, for example:

  • correct-state or wrong-state for the automated show_chart Check Status  step
  • yes or no for the manual call_split Yes / No  step

  For information on Automated Decision and Manual Decision steps, see section Workflows Step Reference > Actions and Decisions.

• [step].completedAt | date – allows to retrieve the date and the timestamp of the step completion. The | date part of the expression allows to retrieve the timestamp in DD.MM.YYYY hh:mm:ss format

• [step].completedBy – works for Manual Workflows only. Allows to retrieve the name of the operator who processed the step

• [step].remark – works for Manual Workflows and for manual steps only. Allows to retrieve the text information that was entered by the operator while processing the step

• [step].logs – allows to get the system log of the step

  Usage example: Log output generated by the step: {{ [step].logs[0] }}

coming soon

The alarm data, site data, and other datasets will be described in further documentation releases.