PPF Expressions & Functions

PPF expressions and functions increase the flexibility of reports by allowing report metrics to be passed to custom JavaScript functions. Create a JavaScript function within your PPF or HTML page, then use expression syntax within your report to pass metrics to it.

Take the example JavaScript function below:

function testfunc(download, upload) {
    console.log(download);
    console.log(upload);
}

This function can be called within other widgets. For example, if the following syntax was included in a text widget, the download and upload speed results would be passed to the testfunc function. If the function returns a value, that value appears in the text:

$$exp.testfunc(||speed.dspeed||,||speed.uspeed||)$$

Below is a complete example using an expression as part of a text widget:

var ppf_datasets = {
    data: {
        speeddata: {
            plugins: ['speed'],
            last: '1',
            unit: 'hour',
            by: 10
        }
    }
}

var ppf_widgets = {
    example_text: {
        ele: ['text_ele_id'],
        data: 'speeddata',
        type: 4,
        text: 'The overall result of this test was <b>$$exp.testfunc(||speed.dspeed||,||speed.uspeed||)$$</b>',
        thrdep: [[]],
        caldep: [[]]
    }
}

function testfunc(download, upload) {
    console.log(download);
    console.log(upload);
}

Global functions are processed once and can be referenced throughout the PPF. They are defined in the reserved ppf_funcs object.

var ppf_funcs = {
    cCalls: 'calcCalls(||c24.capacity.dpackets||,||c24.capacity.upackets||)'
}

The function result is referenced using ppf_funcs followed by the function name. The example below shows this used in a box widget — the expression calls a function that returns a color for the text based on the threshold result:

tl_pktc: {
    inc: 'tl_capd',
    ele: ['grid2'],
    top: {
        text: "Concurrent Calls Supported"
    },
    middle: {
        text: "$$ppf_funcs.cCalls$$ calls",
        txtcol: "$$exp.getTxtCol('capacity.ccalls', ||ppf_funcs.cCalls||)$$"
    }
}