Adding journal entries via the Event Viewer in OMNIbus Web GUI 8.1

Body

In version 8.1 of OMNIbus Web GUI, the Event Viewer allows the user to run right-click tools, via what is referred to as the "alerts menu". Existing tools that can be run from the AEL alerts menu can now be run from the Event Viewer too. This includes tools such as Acknowledge and Prioritize.

Using the pop-up Information dialog, which has been a feature of the Event Viewer since OMNIbus 7.4, it is possible for users to view the journal for a particular event. However, there is not yet a specific facility in the Event Viewer to allow a user to manually add new journal entries.

A workaround to this situation is to make use of the new right-click tooling support in vs 8.1. It is possible to define a new SQL tool whose SQL query invokes an ObjectServer stored procedure for inserting journal entries, and to combine this with a Web GUI prompt, which would provide a means for the user to type in the desired journal text before running the tool.

The steps for accomplishing this would be as follows:

1. Using the new "Tool Prompt Configuration" page in Web GUI, define a new prompt named "journalEntry", of type "String".

2. Using the Web GUI tool editor, define a new SQL tool, and set its SQL query to the following:

call procedure jinsert(@Serial, %uid, getdate, '$prompt.journalEntry');

3. Check the option labelled "Execute for each selected row" and save the tool.

4. Using the Menu editor in Web GUI, add the new SQL tool to the "alerts" menu, with a label of your choice; for example, "Add Journal Entry".

Now, if the Event Viewer is opened, the new menu item will appear on the alerts menu when you right click on an event:

If you then select the new tool, a prompt dialog will pop-up, prompting you to enter the journal text:

Once the text has been entered and the "Run" button is clicked, the tool will run, and the new journal entry will be added to the selected event. Opening the information dialog for the event will show that the new journal entry has been added successfully.

Note that, since this facility uses custom tooling to achieve the desired outcome, the Web GUI checks to see if the current user has "Edit journals" permission would be bypassed. Hence, permission to control journal updates would need to be done through group-level access to the tool itself.