Managing Color Rules

Message Analyzer enables you to share your local Message Analyzer Color Rules asset collection Library items with others, either by employing a user-configured feed or by sharing asset collection items directly with other users on a designated file share. You can share your entire Library as a set, or you can create a subset that includes specific Color Rules while excluding others. You can also modify the filtering and decoration scheme for Color Rules that you will export and share with others; however, keep in mind that any edits you make to custom Color Rules that you intend to export, will modify the corresponding local asset collection Library items. You can view the Color Rule items that are available in your local asset collection Library by clicking the Color Rules drop-down list on the Analysis Grid viewer toolbar.

To create a Color Rule export configuration, you must select the Manage Color Rules item from the Color Rules drop-down list on the previously indicated toolbar to display the Manage Color Rules dialog. Note that you can use the Manage Color Rules dialog to export and import Color Rules directly to and from a user-designated location, respectively, without employing a user-configured feed in the Message Analyzer Sharing Infrastructure.

Managing Color Rule Items

The Manage Color Rules dialog provides the following UI elements to enable you to share Color Rules with others:

  • Import — enables you to navigate to a location designated by a user or team that previously posted a Color Rule asset collection, so that you can retrieve it and add the Color Rules it contains to your local Library.

Caution

You should not use the Import feature to retrieve Color Rule items from a file share that is configured as a feed in the Message Analyzer Sharing Infrastructure. If you use the Import feature to retrieve Color Rule items from such a user file share, all rules that you select in the Select Items to Import dialog will be added to your local Library, while any items that have an identical name will not be overwritten, resulting in duplicate rules in your local Library. For Color Rule downloads or updates through the Message Analyzer Sharing Infrastructure, you should always click the status icon on the Downloads tab of the Asset Manager dialog to obtain the download or update options for the Message Analyzer Color Rules or Azure Storage Color Rules asset collections. For more information about downloading asset collections, see Managing Asset Collection Downloads and Updates. For a procedure that provides an example of importing Library items, see Share Local Library Items on a File Share.

  • Export — you can use this feature to post a set of Color Rules to a designated file share that you intend to configure as a feed in the Message Analyzer Sharing Infrastructure. However, you can also use this feature to post a Color Rule asset collection to a file share that is not configured as a user feed in the Message Analyzer Sharing Infrastructure. Note that if you use the Export feature to publish updates to a Color Rule asset collection on a user feed, some manual configuration is necessary for this to be successful, as described in Manual Item Update Synchronization.

  • Delete — enables you to remove any Color Rule in the My Items Category of your local Color Rules asset collection Library.

    Note that you cannot delete any of the predefined Color Rules in your local Library, although you can Create a Copy to save in the My Items Category. However, to ensure that you do not lose any of your custom-created Color Rules, you should save a backup to a designated location so that you can always reimport your rule set as necessary.

  • Rule selection — enables you to specify the Color Rules that you want to include in your export configuration by selecting check box nodes, as follows:

    • My Items — includes all Color Rules under the My Items node in the export configuration.

    • Message Analyzer — includes all Color Rules in each Category node under Message Analyzer in the export configuration.

    • Category — includes all the Color Rules of a specified Category, for example, under the Network node, in the export configuration.

    • Color Rules — includes one or more selected Color Rules in your export configuration.

  • Context menu — the context menu that displays when you right-click a Color Rule in the My Items category contains the following items:

    • Edit — displays the Edit Color Rule dialog, from where you can modify any Color Rule under the My Items node only. If you modify the Color Rule configuration or Category placement from this location, the changes will apply to your local asset collection Library after you click Save in the Edit Color Rule dialog.

    • Create a Copy — displays the Edit Color Rule dialog, from where you can copy an existing Color Rule, for example, into a different Category in your local asset collection Library. After you make a copy of an existing Color Rule, you can reconfigure it as required and move it to a new or existing category under My Items; thereafter, your local Library will reflect the changes that you specified.

    • Delete — removes a single item from your local asset collection Library that you select under the My Items node.

      Important

      The right-click Delete command removes a single selected item from your local asset collection Library under the My Items node only. You can also perform a Delete operation from the Manage Color Rules dialog by clicking the Delete button on the dialog toolbar after selecting one or more Color Rules. If you attempt to Delete any of the predefined Color Rules from this location, you will be prompted for a deletion of all Color Rules in the My Items category.

Note

When you open the Edit Color Rules dialog from the Manage Color Rules dialog, by right-clicking a Color Rule and selecting either the Edit or Create a Copy command from the context menu, you will be using the same dialog that displays when you select the New Color Rule item in the Color Rules drop-down list on the Analysis Grid viewer toolbar. The only difference is that when you select the Edit or Create a Copy command as indicated, you can only revise the Color Rule configurations, rather than create any new rules. Please note that any modifications you make to a Color Rule from the Edit Color Rule dialog—when accessing such dialog from the Manage Color Rules dialog—including deleting it, changing the decoration scheme, or modifying the Category, Name, filtering criteria, and so on, will be reflected in your local Library.

Updating the Color Rules Asset Collection

Microsoft provides a default Message Analyzer feed on the Downloads tab of the Asset Manager dialog that enables you to download Message Analyzer Color Rules or Azure Storage Color Rules asset collections from a Microsoft web service and to synchronize with asset collection updates that are periodically pushed out by the service. At any time, you can perform a download of an auto-synced collection from the Settings tab of the Asset Manager dialog.


More Information
To learn more about the common Manage <AssetType> dialog, see Managing User Libraries.


See Also

Creating and Modifying Color Rules
Downloading Assets and Auto-Syncing Updates