Row Filter Syntax

Before you create or edit row filters, enable the Database Schema Column Names option on the View menu to make sure that you use the right column names. Every column in the Ultrasound database has a friendly column name and a verbose column name. By default, Ultrasound shows a shortened "friendly" column name to make columns easier to read. In some cases a single friendly column name might be used for columns that have different verbose column names. For this reason, you cannot use friendly names when creating row filters; you need to know the verbose column names instead.

It is also helpful to review the description of the underlying view on which the filter will be implemented. You do this on the Advanced tab by clicking the desired view on the left side of the screen and then clicking the Details button. The View Details dialog box shows the SQL query (on which the view is based) and the available columns.

When you create or edit row filters in Ultrasound, the syntax you use is similar to the WHERE clause in ADO.NET and SQL. Some example search conditions include:

• Comparison:   >, <, >=, <=, =, <>, and IN
• Arithmetic:   + - * / %
• Operators:   AND OR NOT

The following list contains some sample filters:

• A filter for stopped services: ServiceRunning = 0
• A filter to detect whether Ultrasound encounters consistent errors when collecting data: (NumRetryAttempts > 5) and (TimeSinceLastSuccessfulCollection > (24*60*60))

  This filter will show all servers where Ultrasound has attempted data collection and failed for greater than five times and where the time since the last successful collection was over 24 hours ago (computed as 24 hours per day times 60 minutes per hour times 60 seconds per minute.)

Note

• If you want to edit or create row filters, you should be familiar with writing SQL queries. For relevant topics, review the SQL SDK documentation for Microsoft SQL Server 2000 on http://msdn.microsoft.com/.