Transforming form variables
For example, consider an HTML form that uses a hidden variable named step, which is assigned a number identifying the current stage of a purchasing transaction.
If no form variable has been defined, any instance of this page appears in the database as:
Without a defined form variable, you are not able to evaluate each step of the transaction, since all steps are aggregated into a single data set. However, if the step form variable is defined, the appliance records web pages for all steps:
Transforming session identification variables
Transformations can also be performed on user session identification variables that have already been defined in the appliance, see Identifying user sessions. Typically, session identifiers are cookies, although they may also be query, form or parameter variables.
The variable you change should already have been defined in the Session Identification Variables section of the User Sessions page. For more information about User Sessions, see Identifying user sessions.
Performing actions on variable names and values
Configuration of a variable rule requires that you specify actions on both parts of the name-value pair. For example, consider the URL www.store.com?catalog=pet. This URL consists of a single variable whose name is catalog, that may have many values such as pet.
By defining a variable rule, you can control how both the name and value are transformed when the appliance adds the URL to the database. You could choose to ignore catalog altogether, to mask its values as XX, or to expose all of its values in the database. The operations that can be performed on each half of the pair are respectively found in the Name Action and Value Action sections.
The Variable name box and Evaluate as regular expression box allow you to specify which variables are affected by the rule.
The name that is entered must precisely match that which you wish to find in monitored URLs. For example, if you enter catalog as the variable name, this sample URL:
www.store.com?catalog=pet
will be affected by this rule, but this URL:
www.store.co.uk?catalogue=pet
will not be transformed.
By selecting the Evaluate as regular expression check box, the value that you entered in the Variable Name box is treated as a regular expression. With this setting selected and the string catalog.* specified in the Variable Name box, this rule would affect both of the URLs:
www.store.com?catalog=pet
www.store.co.uk?catalogue=pet
The Variable type list allows you to specify the variable type:
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Query Variable–these are query strings that appear after the question mark in a URL, and are the most common type of variable to which you can apply transformations. |
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Form Variable–these are variables that appear in HTTP POST requests, and are typically tied to HTML elements that allow the user to enter data, such as text entry boxes. |
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XML Variable–these are variables that appear in HTTP POST requests, but are encoded as XML. |
http://www.store.com/entryform.asp
and the following XML structure is passed in that HTTP POST on submission:
<Screen Action=“Save” Panel=”Address” >
the URL will appear in the system as:
http://www.store.com/entryform.asp
http://www.store.com/entryform.asp [ Screen.Action=”Save” ]
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Cookie Variable–these are variables that appear in cookies contained in the HTTP header. From the perspective of end users, cookies are transparent, and are not visible in URLs. |
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Parameter Variable–these are values that appear after the path portion of a URL. |
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HTTP Variable–these are values that appear in the HTTP headers and contain information about the client, server and the web page. Some applications can create custom HTTP headers that contain useful state information relevant to the application itself. In these cases, you can configure these HTTP variables and expose their values in the user interface. |
When you select the Show as is option button, the name portion of the name-value pair is not transformed, and only the operation performed on the value portion of pair changes the URL.
Selecting the Replace with option button requires that you enter a direct replacement string in the accompanying text entry box.
Selecting the Transform with option button necessitates the entry of a regular expression in the accompanying text entry box.
Selecting the Transform option button requires that you enter two regular expressions in the accompanying text entry boxes: the first being the string to search for in the value portion of the name-value pair, and the second being the string that replaces the detected string, before the URL is recorded to the database.
Selecting the Mask with XX option button causes all values of the name-value pair to be replaced with XX in the transformed URL.
Selecting the Decode as XML option button indicates XML is embedded in the variable value, and needs to be expanded.
Consider the following example:
http://www.store.com/page.asp?xml=<Screen Action=”Save” Panel=”Address”>
In this URL, there are two XML variables in the XML string:
Screen.Action, and Screen.Panel.
By default, the appliance would detect and display the URL as:
http://www.store.com/page.asp?myxml=XX
In the Name Action section, if you identify xml as the variable name, and in the Value Action section, choose to Decode as XML, the URL would transform to:
http://www.store.com/page.asp?xml=<Screen Action=XX Panel=XX>
If you continued by defining another variable rule for Screen.Action, the URL would then be transformed to:
http://www.store.com/page.asp?xml=<Screen Action=”Read” Panel=XX>
Selecting the Decode as URL option button indicates the variable value is an embedded URL, and needs to be expanded.
Consider the following example:
http://www.store.com/page.asp?step=http://www.store.com/
actualstep.asp?action=save&session=12345
In this URL, you can create a variable rule that instructs the appliance to decode step as a URL. This allows you to further manipulate variables that are embedded in the step URL (that is, action, and session).
By default, the appliance would detect and display the URL as:
http://www.store.com/page.asp?step=XX
If you identify step as a variable name in the Name Action section, and in the Value Action section, choose Decode as URL, the URL would transform to:
http://www.store.com/page.asp?step=http://www.store.com/
actualstep.asp?action=XX&&session=XX
If you continued by adding an additional variable rule for action, the URL would then be transformed to:
http://www.store.com/page.asp?step=http://www.store.com/
actualstep.asp?action=save&&session=XX
The following section discusses how to add variable rules.
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On the Configure > URLs > Variable Rules page, click Add a Variable Rule. |
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In the Name Action section, begin by entering a string in the Variable name box that identifies the variable that appears in monitored URLs. |
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Select, or leave the Evaluate as regular expression check box clear, depending on whether you want to use a regular expression to define multiple variable names, or use a literal string to find an exact match. |
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From the Variable type list, select whether the variable that you are looking for is a query, form, XML, cookie, parameter, or HTTP variable. |
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If you wish the path rule to also apply to hits transmitted from the Foglight Experience Monitor to the Foglight Experience Viewer, enable the Apply to Foglight Experience Viewer hits box. |
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Click OK to save the variable rule definition. |
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On the Configure > URLs > Variable Rules page, click Auto-Discover Form Variables. |
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Click Stop at any point to cancel the search, and use the list that has been compiled up to that point. |
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Clicking the details link for a variable opens a dialog box that displays a list of values detected for the variable. |
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Click Add. |
If you are monitoring SharePoint® servers, you can automatically populate the list of variable and query rules by clicking Apply on the Configure > Applications > SharePoint page. After the SharePoint monitoring is enabled the list of default variables appears in the variable rules sections.
