How the Text property is used depends on the type of template an action refers to:
Serial
Sends the text to the port defined in the serial template.
Modem
Sends the text to a phone connection using a modem on the port defined in the modem template. The text is typically used to display a message on a paging device.
Command
Appends the text to the end of the command specified in the command template.
The value of the Text property can be any sequence of characters, including control characters, substitution of attribute values from alert event reports, and text characters that can be printed. This allows easy access to many third-party devices, such as power control and voice notification devices, without the use of a user-defined interface to the serial ports of these devices. Allowable control characters are shown in the following table.
Note: To specify the backslash character (\) as a character other than a control character, enter two backslashes. For example, if you want the message to be \reply soon\! followed by a carriage return, you would enter the following as action text: \\reply soon\\!\r
Unless there is a valid reason,
it is advised that you do not specify control characters for an action
that uses a command template. They can cause the command execution
to fail.
| Control Character | Definition |
|---|---|
| \a | BEL (0x07) |
| \b | BACKSPACE (0x08) |
| \f | FORM FEED (0x0c) |
| \n | LINE FEED or NEW LINE (0x0a) |
| \r | CARRIAGE RETURN (0x0d) |
| \t | TAB (0x09) |
| \v | VERTICAL TAB (0x0b) |
| \0nn or \0nnn | An octal value (0 = zero) in two or three digits, where each digit must be within the range of 0 through 7. It is recommended that you always specify three octal digits following \0; for example, \0017 instead of \017. If you specify only two digits and the character that follows is a valid octal digit, it is interpreted as part of the control sequence, not as a separate character. |
| \0xnn or \0Xnn | A hexadecimal value (0 = zero) in the two digits, nn, where each n must be within the set of 0 through 9, a, A, b, B, c, C, d, D, e, E, f, F. The x or X is required to indicate hexadecimal notation. |
You can also use substitution sequences to include attribute values from the alert event report that triggered the action or the Operations Sentinel server date and time in action text. These substitution sequences are shown in the following table and you can specify one or more of these substitution sequences in any order in the action text.
Note: Each substitution sequence is not case sensitive.
| Substitution Sequence | Substituted Value |
| \_CLASS\ | CLASS event report attribute. |
| \_INSTANCE\ | INSTANCE event report attribute. |
| \_SEV\ | SEV event report attribute. |
| \_ALERTID\ | ALERTID event report attribute. |
| \_APPL\ | APPL event report attribute. |
| \_APPLQUAL\ | APPLQUAL event report attribute. |
| \_ALERTQUAL\ | ALERTQUAL event report attribute. |
| \_HELP\ | HELP event report attribute. |
| \_TEXT\ | TEXT event report attribute. |
| \_EXT_ACTION_LIST\ | EXT_ACTION_LIST event report attribute. |
| \_SERVER\ | The name of the Operations Sentinel server. |
| \_SERVER_TIME\ | Time on the Operations Sentinel server when the alert was originally raised. The format is determined by the locale of the Operations Sentinel server. |
| \_SERVER_DATE\ | Date on the Operations Sentinel server when the alert was originally raised. The format is determined by the locale of the Operations Sentinel server. |
| \_SENDER_TIME\ | Time, according to sender, when the alert was raised. This is set to the null string if the sender did not specify a sender date and time for the alert. |
| \_SENDER_DATE\ | Date, according to sender, when the alert was raised. This is set to the null string if the sender did not specify a sender date and time for the alert. |
| \_myattr\ | Value of the user-defined attribute named myattr from the AL event report. |