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Creating and Modifying Color Rules

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Message Analyzer enables you to create new Color Rules of your own design or you can modify existing ones. Message Analyzer provides an Example Color Rules item under My Items in the Color Rules drop-down list on the Analysis Grid viewer toolbar that you can modify however you want for practice purposes, so you can begin familiarizing yourself with Color Rule features and functions. After you create a new Color Rule or modify an existing one, you can add it to an existing Category or populate it to a new Category that you define for your local Message Analyzer Color Rules asset collection Library. You can perform these operations by using the Edit Color Rule dialog, which is accessible in each of the following ways:

  • By selecting the New Color Rule item from the Color Rules drop-down list on the Analysis Grid viewer toolbar. Note that this drop-down list is also available from the global Message Analyzer Session menu, but only when an Analysis Grid viewer tab has focus.

  • By right-clicking a default Color Rule in a Category of your local rule Library and selecting the Create a Copy item in the context menu that displays.

  • By right-clicking a Color Rule in a Category from within the Manage Color Rules dialog. This dialog is accessible by selecting the Manage Color Rules item from the Color Rules drop-down list in the previously specified locations.

    Note

    If you configure a new Color Rule from the Manage Color Rules dialog by creating a copy of an existing rule and modifying it, or if you directly modify an existing rule, the changes will be added to your local Color Rule asset collection Library.

Caution

You cannot use the Edit Color Rule dialog to modify any of the built-in Color Rules that are provided by default with every Message Analyzer installation.

Creating New Color Rules

To create a new Color Rule with the Edit Color Rule and to specify a Category in which to place it, you will need to do the following:

  • Open the Edit Color Rule dialog by selecting the New Color Rule item from the Color Rules drop-down list on the Analysis Grid viewer toolbar.

  • Enter a name for the new Color Rule in the Name text box.

  • Optionally describe the purpose of the Color Rule in the Description text box.

  • Specify the Category that you want to contain the new rule, either by selecting an existing item from the drop-down menu of the Category combo box, or by typing a new category name in the Category combo box.

  • Specify a Filter Expression for the new Color Rule.

    To do this, you can manually configure a filter by entering the Filter Expression text directly in the filter text box below the Edit Color Rule dialog toolbar, or you can select a built-in Filter Expression from the centralized Message Analyzer Filters asset collection Library. If you want to manually configure a Filter Expression, the Filter IntelliSense service is available to provide statement completion assistance.

Note

Whether you specify a manually configured Filter Expression or you modify one of the predefined expressions from the centralized Library, Message Analyzer automatically validates that the expression properly compiles when you attempt to Save the Color Rule. If the filter expression does not compile, you will be unable to save the new Color Rule.

  • Configure the decoration scheme for the new Color Rule by using the controls in the Style, Weight, Lines, and Colors panes of the Edit Color Rule dialog. As you modify the Color Rule decoration scheme, the configuration is displayed in the Preview pane at the bottom of the Edit Color Rule dialog.

    For each Color Rule you create, be sure to specify a unique decoration and text scheme that will readily convey its status to you as a warning, reminder, or diagnostic alert. Color Rule decoration schemes consist of a combination of the following visual components:

    • Foreground (text), Gradient Background, and Background colors.

    • Normal, Italic, and Oblique text styles.

    • Normal and Bold font styles.

    • Normal, Underline, Strikethrough, and Overline line text decorations.

  • Create the new Color Rule and Category (if you specified one) by clicking the Save button in the Edit Color Rule dialog.

Note

After you save a new Color Rule or an edited one, it is automatically applied to the current message collection displaying in the Analysis Grid viewer.

Modifying Color Rules

Message Analyzer enables you to modify, delete, or create a copy of any Color Rule under the My Items node only, in the Color Rules drop-down list. This includes the Example Color Rule that is provided for practice purposes. You can also Create a Copy of any predefined Color Rule, modify it, and then Save it, but you cannot directly modify a predefined Color Rule that is provided by default with Message Analyzer. The commands to perform these operations are available as the following context menu items, which display as appropriate for the category node in which you right-click a Color Rule:

  • Edit — available for Color Rules under the My Items node only. Displays the Edit Color Rule dialog, from where you have access to the Color Rule configuration described in Creating New Color Rules.

  • Create a Copy — available for Color Rules under the Message Analyzer and My Items category nodes. Displays the Edit Color Rule dialog, from where you can copy an existing Color Rule, for example, into a different Category. You can also reconfigure the copy as a new rule and place it in a Category of choice, which is tantamount to creating a new rule.

  • Delete — available for Color Rules under the My Items node only. Removes a single selected Color Rule under the My Items node.

When you modify a Color Rule, for example, to specify a different decoration scheme or filtering configuration, you are using the same Edit Color Rule dialog with which you create new Color Rules.

Tip

It is advisable to create a backup of your local Color Rule Library asset collection, so that you can always restore any custom rules you may have deleted under the My Items category of your Message Analyzer Color Rules asset collection Library.

More Information
To learn more about managing Color Rule items, including sharing them with others, see Managing Color Rules.
To learn more about Filter Expressions, see Writing Filter Expressions and the Filter IntelliSense Service topic.