In this recipe, we will have a look at how to configure the behavior of Orchestrator Client. You will learn how to manipulate the coloring of scripts, the start-up behavior, and much more.
We need a running Orchestrator installation as well as an Orchestrator account that we can log into.
- Log into Orchestrator Client.
- Click on Tools (in the top-right corner of Orchestrator) and select User preferences....
- The User Preferences window will open.
- Configure the settings as you like.
- Click on OK.
The user preferences have four areas of configuration: General, Workflow, Inventory, and Script Editor.
The user preferences can only be set by Orchestrator administrators, as they determine how Orchestrator Client behaves.
The user preference settings are specific for each user and are stored in the vmware-vmo.cfg file that is located in the local Orchestrator Client directory. If you are using Java Web Start (from the Orchestrator home page), the settings are stored in the hidden folder .vmware in your local user profile. This means that if you are logging in from the same computer or with the same Windows user account (even when using different Orchestrator users), the settings will be shared.
There are four sections that can be configured: General, Workflow, Inventory, and Script Editor.
The general section contains the settings for the general behavior of Orchestrator Client. You can set the following items:
|
Item |
Options |
Default |
Meaning |
|
Auto-edit new inserted |
[Yes|NO] |
Yes |
A new object will open automatically in edit mode |
|
Script compilation delay |
[ms] |
2000 |
How often input will be checked by the editor |
|
Show decision scripts |
[Yes|NO] |
No |
Shows the script that is the base of a decision object |
|
Delete non-empty folder permitted |
[Yes|NO] |
No |
Able to delete non-empty folders |
|
Size of run logs |
[lines] |
300 |
Amount of lines displayed in the workflow log |
|
Server log fetch limit |
[lines] |
100 |
Amount of lines displayed in the Events tab of an element |
|
Finder maximum size |
[items] |
20 |
Amount of elements returned in a search |
|
Check usage when deleting an element |
[Yes|NO] |
No |
Check whether an element is used by another element before deleting |
|
Check OGNL expression |
[Yes|NO] |
Yes |
Not supported since vCO 5.1 |
A typical setting you might like to change is Finder maximum size. A higher number will return a greater number of search results in a search box, which can be helpful but may also take a bit longer.
The workflow settings alter how Orchestrator workflows behave. Changing some of these settings should be considered carefully. Changing them won't damage Orchestrator but can impact the visual presentation of your work. An extremely cool feature is the Edit workflow items in a pop-up window option. This will allow you to edit workflow elements directly without clicking on the edit icon. This feature is switched on depending on your screen resolution.
There is only one option available, that is, Use contextual menu in inventory. The function automatically displays all workflows that can be used with a selected object in the inventory. For example, right-clicking on the cluster in the vCenter Server inventory will display all the workflows that are available for a cluster:
To make this work, you will need to assign the workflow presentation property Show in Inventory to an in-parameter of a particular type (for example, VC:ClusterComputeResource). Also see the Workflow Presentations recipe in Chapter 5, Visual Programming.
In the script editor section, you can choose how a script element behaves when you enter the JavaScript code.
|
Item |
Options |
Default |
Meaning |
|
Enable code assist |
[Yes | NO] |
Yes |
Code assist allows the use of Ctrl + spacebar to see the properties or methods of the object. |
|
Highlight selected line |
[Yes | NO] |
Yes |
This highlights the current line you selected. |
|
Highlight brackets |
[Yes | NO] |
Yes |
When the cursor is on a bracket (any type), it will display its corresponding partner. |
|
Display EOL |
[Yes | NO] |
No |
This displays the end of a line of a given line of code. |
The rest of the choices are about color and how elements (such as strings and comments) are color coded. You can use the default or create a color scheme that resembles other code editors you use.