Debugging dashboards

The Debug menu in the console offers some helpful tools for creating, editing, and debugging dashboards. Among them is the Presentation Debugger (also called the Dashboard Debugger in some versions of the program) that is turned off by default. To enable the Debug menu:

  1. Press Ctrl-Shift-Alt-D to display the Debug Dialog.
  2. Select the check box next to Show Debug Menu.

Alternatively, you can edit the registry:

  1. Locate the key HKCU\Software\BigFix\Enterprise Console\NoEditMenus.
  2. Set the DWORD value Show Debug Menu to 1.
  3. Restart the console.

The Presentation Debugger dialog lets you write a Relevance Expression and test it. You can enter the expression in String, HTML, or Presentation (XML) style. There are some buttons that are attached to this dialog, although they differ depending on the context of the dialog:

  • Cancel: Available when the debugger is called from a wizard tool, use this button to cancel the insertion of the wizard.
  • Insert: Also available when the debugger is called from a wizard tool, this button lets you insert the wizard icon into a custom Fixlet, task, baseline, or analysis.
  • Open File: Opens a File Open dialog to import an existing Relevance statement or a dashboard-style file.
  • Evaluate: Click this button to evaluate the specified Relevance statement. The results are displayed in the box below.

You can also attach a site (from the pull-down menu) and a Fixlet ID to your expression, by using the appropriate input boxes.

This dialog can be accessed whenever you create a new or custom Fixlet, task, baseline, or analysis. In the description tag, enter the text that you desire, and then from the toolbar at the top, insert the Wizard Hat icon. This displays the Presentation Debugger dialog.