Custom Actions are a powerful and flexible option which allow you to extend the existing set of Goverlan features. It allows you to configure a set of reports, modify and execute actions in one package and execute it on one or more users or machines as needed. A custom action object can be configured to perform many highly customized tasks. For instance, you can configure a custom action to modify multiple registry settings, perform file operations or install MSI packages on a machine or a set of machines.
Custom Actions are directly related to Scope Actions. A Custom Action can be configured with any of the available attributes of a scope action, including WMI's wide range of attributes.
Many features provided by Goverlan can only be executed on a single object at a time. A custom action is practical because it can be configured to perform advanced actions on multiple computers or users at one time.
Let's use an example: Goverlan provides a Shutdown Computer task. You can execute a Shutdown action by selecting this task from the context sensitive menu of a Computer. However, the Shutdown feature can only be executed on one computer at a time. If you were to open the context sensitive menu of a selection which includes two or more computers, the Shutdown action is no longer available.
If you want to execute a Shutdown of multiple computers, simply create a Custom Action which executes a shutdown and select this custom action from the context sensitive menu for one or more computers which have been selected.
Custom Actions can be configured to perform many actions sequentially. You can also apply conditions to the actions. This allows you to create sophisticated action packages and make them readily available in the user interface.
A Custom Action provides access to the properties and methods of every WMI Class available in your local repository.
A Custom Action provides access to every Active Directory attribute of a user, machine or group. If you often need to query an Active Directory attribute not displayed by the native Goverlan interface, simply configure it as a custom action.
A Custom Action can be configured to query and manage any registry key or value as well as file system objects.
A Custom Action can either be bound to users or computers. A Custom Actions category is available for each user and computer object. Adding a custom action to either a user or a computer makes the custom action object available to all users or computers under the Custom Actions category.
To add a new custom action object, select the Custom Actions icon of either a user object or a computer object, and either:
Right click on the mouse and select Add Custom Action.
Press the [INS] key on the keyboard.
Use the Custom Action property window to configure your custom action object.
Enter the name you want to assign to the custom action object. The name must be unique across all existing custom actions and cannot contain the following characters: \ / : * ? " < > |
Enter a description for the custom action. The description entered in this field is used when generating custom action reports.
A Custom Action must contain a least one Action Module.
Each action module defines a set of actions which can be used to report information, modify settings or execute tasks. Even though you can mix report, set and execute actions, it is rarely needed. Custom Actions are more commonly configured to either run reports, sets or to execute actions.
For more information about Action Modules, please refer to the Selecting Actions article of the Scope Actions feature.
Note: You can also drag and drop any previously configured Action Module template to define your actions.
If you have configured one or more report actions, use the Display any configured report items in option to specify the desired output format.
HTML - Data Sheet
Generate a report in HTML format. This model generates a data card for each child object contained in the report. For instance, if you select to report information on the local drives, each drive with its information is presented in its own section.
HTML - Report
Generate a report in HTML format. This model presents the information in a table format. The selected information attributes are set as columns and each row contains the information for a object. Since all objects are inserted into a single table, this format is perfect for side by side comparisons of attribute values.
Text
Generates a report in text format and outputs it to a single text file. This format is convenient if you need to send the entire report by email.
Open with Microsoft Excel (only available if you have Microsoft Excel installed on your machine)
Open the generated XML data using Microsoft Excel. Excel will then convert the XML data into a spreadsheet.
Once you have configured the custom action, click on the OK button. The new custom action is then accessible under the Custom Actions category of every respective user or computer.
You can modify an existing custom action at any time. To do so, either:
Select the custom action, right click on the mouse and select Properties from the menu.
Select the custom action and press the [ALT]+[ENTER] keys on the keyboard.
Select one or more custom action objects. Use the [CTRL] key to select multiple custom actions.
Right click on the mouse and select Remove Item from the menu.
Double click on a custom action.
Select the custom action, right click on the mouse and select Execute Actions from the menu.
When you run a custom action, it executes using the currently selected user or computer object as the target object.
You can run a custom action on a set of users or machines in both the main views and from the Search Panel result list. Simply select multiple objects from the view using the [CTRL] or [SHIFT] key, right click on the mouse and use the Custom Actions... sub menu.
Once Sharing has been configured, you can share your custom action to make them available to everyone belonging to your Goverlan Workgroup.
Simply right-click on any custom action and select Share or Unshare as appropriate. Once shared, every one belonging to the Goverlan workgroup will be able to execute and modify the custom action.