How does Entuity handle errors?

 

Application-level errors

Dashlet errors

Form errors and warnings

Error dialog

Disabled button tooltip

HTTP error pages

Invalid object

Dashboard misconfiguration

 

There are a number of ways in which errors and warnings, resulting from direct and indirect user actions, are displayed in Entuity. Please find below information on how Entuity handles these errors and how they are communicated to the user.

 

 

Application-level errors

Application-level errors occur as a result of indirect user interaction, e.g. page rendering, refreshing, etc. When an application-level error occurs, the Overflow Menu kebab will be highlighted red and an error message will slide out from the Overflow Menu.

 

 

The message will slide back after a few seconds, but the Overflow Menu kebab will remain highlighted red until one of the following:

• the page is reloaded or another navigation occurs (e.g. you switch to another dashboard).
• the error is resolved through either an automatic dashboard refresh (which differs from a complete page reload) or through changing a setting that triggers a refresh of the source.

If you click on and open the Overflow Menu, the error will be detailed at the top of the menu. If there are three or more errors, then two errors will be detailed followed by a See All Errors link.

 

 

Click this link to open the All Errors form on the right side of the browser. This form will list all application-level errors on the page, and you can drill down into each of them for further details.

 

 

For application-level errors that specifically apply to dashlets, please see Dashlet errors below.

 

 

Dashlet errors

Note, these errors differ from dashboard misconfiguration.

Dashlet errors are application-level errors that apply specifically to dashlets in a dashboard. As with the application-level error, the Overflow Menu kebab will be highlighted red and an error message will slide out from the Overflow Menu. The message will slide back after a few seconds, but the Overflow Menu kebab will remain highlighted red until one of the following:

• the page is reloaded or another navigation occurs (e.g. you switch to another dashboard).
• the error is resolved through either an automatic dashboard refresh (which differs from a complete page reload) or through changing a setting that triggers a refresh of the source.

Additionally, the dashlet in question that is impacted by the error will be highlighted with a red border.

 

 

If you click on and open the dashboard's Overflow Menu, the error will be detailed at the top of the menu. If there are three or more errors, then two errors will be detailed followed by a See All Errors link. Click this link to open the All Errors form on the right side of the browser. This form will list all application-level errors on the page, and you can drill down into each of them for further details.

 

 

The dashlet-specific errors are displayed per dashlet (providing the name of the dashlet that is the source of the error, so that you know which dashlet provided which errors), distinct from the other non dashlet-specific errors.

 

 

Note, if there are multiple errors on a dashboard that are all of the same type, then they will be combined into a single error message. Each dashlet to which those errors apply will still be highlighted with a red border.

 

 

Form errors and warnings

Form errors and warnings occur when you enter an invalid value or make an incompatible selection on an open form. Form errors and warnings differ in the following manner:

• errors must be resolved before you can continue.
• warnings can be dismissed without resolution, allowing you to continue with the current value/selection. These apply when the value or selection are not recommended, but it is not essential to correct the value/selection.

A banner at the top of the form will display a message stating that somewhere on this form there is an error (red banner) or undismissed warning (orange banner). If there is both an error and a warning on the form, then both banners will be displayed. Click on the banner to be scrolled down to the first error/warning on the form. The section of the form with the error or warning will be highlighted with a border (red for error, orange for warning). A warning can be dismissed, but an error cannot. If you try to commit a form by clicking Done in the top right, you will be automatically scrolled down to the first error or undismissed warning on the form.

If you dismissed a warning during the original form creation, then you will not see the warning again when editing the form at a later time.

 

 

 

Error dialog

The error dialog obstructively warns you of an error. This dialog consists of a title, message and an optional advanced section. The advanced section is expandable and provides further details. The error dialog will appear in instances such as drag and drop errors, form errors, context menu errors, and dashboard misconfiguration errors, etc.

 

 

 

Disabled button tooltip

There are occasions when a button will be grayed out and therefore disabled from use. This applies to both the main UI and buttons in the Overflow Menu. These buttons may have certain requirements in order to be enabled, for example:

• valid context.
• item in table selected.
• item a certain type.
• item a certain property.
• a mix of multiple requirements.

If you hover over the disabled button, a message will appear that details a list of requirements explaining why that button is disabled. Once you have fulfilled a particular requirement, it will disappear from the tooltip (leaving any remaining unfilled requirements).

 

 

HTTP error pages

HTTP error pages will be displayed when one of these errors is produced by the server(s) (either Apache HTTP or TomCat. There are specific errors (404, 500, 501, 502, 503 and 504) and a generic error page for all other HTTP errors. Each of these pages will provide a message detailing the error.

Where appropriate, an error message will provide a link back to /dashboard.

The specific error codes are for the following HTTP statuses:

• 404 - page not found.
• 500 - internal server error, for when an unexpected condition was encountered.
• 501 - not implemented, for when the server does not recognize the request method or lacks the ability to fulfill the request.
• 502 - bad gateway, for when the server was acting as a gateway or proxy, and it received an invalid response from the upstream server.
• 503 - service unavailable, for when the server is currently unavailable through being overloaded or down for maintenance.
• 504 - gateway timeout, for when the server was acting as a gateway or proxy, and it did not receive a timely response from the upstream server.

 

 

Invalid object

If you navigate to an invalid object/dashboard, the dashboard/dashlet will (in most cases) be blank except for the message: 'The requested object/dashboard is invalid'. This will happen when you:

• request an object that does not exist.
• navigate to an object you do not have permission to access.
• navigate to a dashboard you do not have permission to access.
• navigate to a dashboard does not exist.
  • If the URL is provided with an incorrect dashboard ID then the message is displayed. If the URL is provided with an incorrect dashboard name, then you will be navigated to the default dashboard.
• navigate to a dashlet that receives a context you do not have permission to see.

 

Dashboard misconfiguration

Note, these errors differ from dashlet errors.

Dashboard misconfiguration errors occur when you are creating a custom dashboard. Most dashboard misconfigurations are related to dashlets not correctly receiving their context. For example, you might have a dashlet that expects a port as its context, but you have provided a device as its context.

If you have added a misconfigured dashlet to your custom dashboard, then that dashlet will have a red border but no error details are yet provided. This means you can continue creating and editing your custom dashboard. When you go to save your custom dashboard, then an error dialog will pop up, explaining the error or errors and that it/they must be resolved before ultimately saving your changes. Once the error or errors have been resolved, you are then able to save your changes.