A Perygee variable is similar in concept to a variable in mathematics or computer science. It’s simply a container or placeholder that stores some data, and the value of that data is added or changed when a customer interacts with corresponding widgets on a dashboard. Variables are created at the dashboard level meaning they can be referenced by any widget on the dashboard (if that widget can use variables).
Using variables
Let’s look at an example of using variables. In this example, we’ll create a variable that enables us to display the attribute values of a chosen asset by connecting an Item List widget to an Attribute List widget. Perhaps we want to show a list of high priority assets with vulnerabilities so we can quickly see where they are located and who is responsible for them.
To start, from the dashboard editing view, click the “Variables” tab at the top of the right side panel. This is where you create variables that can then be used when configuring widgets on the dashboard. For our example, we want to create a variable that stores the ID of a high priority asset with a known vulnerability so we’ll give it a descriptive name such as “PriorityAssetID.” That way it’s easy to identify later if the dashboard has multiple variables. Next, we just need to select the data type, and in this case we’ll choose “Text” since we’re storing an asset. Other options include Date, Number, and Record. Click the “Add variable” button and the new variable will appear below.
After the variable is created, we need to create and configure the Item List and Attribute List widgets. We’ll start with the Item List widget. First, we’ll drag and drop the Item List widget onto the canvas. From the configuration panel on the right, we select the query from which we want to show items (e.g. high priority assets with vulnerabilities). Then we will choose “PriorityAssetID” from the “Selected Variable ID” dropdown. Whatever asset is clicked from the Item List widget will be stored in the “PriorityAssetID” variable.
Finally, we need to create and configure the Attribute List widget. First, we’ll drag and drop the Attribute List widget onto the canvas. From the configuration panel on the right we’ll choose “PriorityAssetID” from the “Selected Variable ID” dropdown just as we did with the Item List widget. The difference here is that the Attribute List widget is using the variable to retrieve and display desired attribute information about the selected asset rather than store information. Note that you can choose which attributes you wish to display, and in our example we’d likely choose attributes such as “Building name” and “OT owner.”