Understanding Monitors

The SightLane Monitor object is a collection of settings and related records that govern how a runtime Event is created and handled.  It stores no logging data.  Although it is "related" to an Event, it is not actually the parent of that Event (there is no Lookup or Master-Detail relationship between them).  Monitors tell the SightLane engine what to do when an Event occurs.

The Monitor Page

Events - The Events tab shows all Events of this monitor type and lets users "click-through" to the actual Event record.  Users can change and filter the Events list using the search bar at the top of the Events table.

Archives - The Archives tab is nearly identical to the Events tab but holds SightLane Archive records (those that have gone through the archival process but have not yet been purged).

Settings - Shows current monitor settings (See the next section for more details).

Event Responses - A related list of SightLane Response records, which are executed following the completion of any Event of this type (according to the Response record's configuration).

Monitor Insights - A related list of SightLane Insight records that are specifically related to this Monitor (as opposed to being related to a specific Event).  Insights that are designated to be relevant to ALL Events of this type will be listed at the Monitor level.

Monitor Group Members - A related list of Monitor Groups to which this Monitor belongs.  Monitor Groups are displayed on the Control Center page.

Monitor Settings

In addition to the history of Events and related records, the Monitor Page contains all settings for how a Monitor behaves during execution.  The Settings tab shows all settings that can be set by SightLane administrators.

Use Platform Events - By default, Monitored Events are saved via DML in the same transaction under which they were executed.  Because SightLane is a managed package, Event saving does NOT steal DML statements or other governor limits from the subscriber org.  Managed packages have their own allotment of limits, separate from those of the subscribing org.  However, there are some architectures and situations in which it is more advisable to save Events outside of the current transactional context.  In these cases, the Monitor's Use Platform Events option should be checked.

Show in Control Center - Determines whether the Events show up on the Control Center page. By unchecking this option, events can be loosely hidden from the User interface, though they are still tracked and saved in the same way as always.

Show in Live Stream - Determines whether the Events show up on the Live Stream page. By unchecking this option, events can be loosely hidden from the User interface, though they are still tracked and saved in the same way as always.  This can be helpful if an Event is executed very frequently (such as a trigger) and you don't want it to "clog up" the Live Stream page.

Frequency - A declarative way to manage when an Event is created.  Options are Always, Logs Only (only when the monitor produces content), Exceptions Only (only when the Event fails or needs review), and Disabled.  The default setting is "Always".  If you need to temporarily stop a monitor, set its Frequency to Disabled.

Frequency (Bulk) - A declarative way to manage when an Event is created during bulk operations.  It can be very helpful to monitor an Insert Trigger during a single User action but NOT when that action is part of a Bulk upload or a massive data integration process.  The Options are the same as for the Frequency setting, but the default setting is "Exceptions Only".

Log Headers - By default, SightLane Events generate a line number and timestamp before each log line.  This setting controls how the header is added to the log. The options are Inline (the default), Start and End (a timestamp will be added to the beginning and end of each Event but will not be added to each line of the Event), and Disabled (no log header information will be added to the log).

Intelligent Archive

Intelligent Archive is a set of background jobs that manage the archival and purging of Event data from the SightLane platform.  Three settings govern Intelligent Archive at the Monitor level.

Archiving - This setting determines whether individual Events are archived and has the same settings as the Frequency and Frequency (Bulk) options.  If an Event is not archived (because Archiving is disabled OR because an individual Event's situation does not match the Monitor's Archiving setting), it is directly purged by the system.  This is helpful and conserves data utilization if the value of an event has a limited timeframe.

Days Before Archive - The number of days after an Event's Start date that the Event record is converted into an Archive record.

Days Before Purge - The number of days after an Event's Start date that the Event record is purged (removed from the system).  This value must be larger than the Days Before Archive value.