DéjàClick ContentViews
Today's websites have content from a variety of sources, not only from your own company, but 3rd party content as well.
DéjàClickTM ContentViews categorizes this content, providing segregated reporting capabilities and the ability to intelligently notify the responsible owner of the content when it is down or in error. This enhances your ability to troubleshoot performance issues within your site without having to deal with poorly performing components from external sources.
ContentViews automatically captures all site content found in your transactions, allowing you to:
- easily monitor the components independent of each other
- select and prioritize whether or not to receive notifications based on a ContentView's errors
- produce ContentViews-specific reports with graphs and charts
Familiarity with AlertSite's DéjàClick transaction recording tool and the AlertSite Console is a prerequisite for using this guide. If you don't have the DéjàClick toolbar in your Firefox browser, go to the
DéjàClick home page to download the add-on. If you have never used DéjàClick before, please go to the
DéjàClick Quick Start Guide. After you have become comfortable with recording DéjàClick transactions, you'll be able to move on to this more advanced feature. Note that screen shots displayed here are for illustration only and do not represent any actual customer transaction.
To learn more about the AlertSite Console, go to
AlertSite Quick Start Guide.
ContentViews Features
- Easy set-up through the DéjàClick Properties Sidebar or the Validation selector in the DéjàClick toolbar
- Visibility in the AlertSite Console
- Alert notification control
- Configurable ad-hoc reports
Each feature and procedure is explained in more detail below.
ContentViews Configuration
Before you get started, you must first decide how you want to partition the content contained in your transaction. For example, you may want to have only URLs with your website's domain in one ContentView. In another, you might want certain Content Delivery Network (CDN) URLs. A third might contain other 3rd party URLs. It's completely up to you to determine how you want to categorize the content within your transaction.
Once you have decided how to classify your content, you are ready to add and configure different ContentViews.
There are two ways to configure ContentViews:
- Selecting ContentViews in the DéjàClick Properties Sidebar and clicking the Add button
This allows users to incorporate their ContentViews across their entire script, capturing all actions in one swoop.
- Selecting Add ContentView from the Validation selector dropdown on the DéjàClick toolbar while recording
Users would use this option if they are concerned only about how content performs across individual, specific actions and events in the transaction.
ContentViews consume measurement credits at a rate of 1/4 usage credit per action in your AlertSite account. However, if no matching content is reported by the ContentView, no usage credits are charged to your account.
Let's take an example in which we partition one domain into one ContentView, another domain into another ContentView, and create a third ContentView for all pages not contained in either of the other two ContentViews.
Adding ContentViews from the Properties Sidebar
For this illustration, we recorded 3
Actions in
amazon.com using DéjàClick and played it back on the desktop. After replay, we're ready to add
ContentViews.
Click the
Properties tab in the DéjàClick sidebar. Locate
ContentViews in the
Properties list and click on it to open.
In our example, we will set up 3 ContentViews, one for the
amazon.com domain, one for the
ad.doubleclick.net domain, and one for all other pages that do not contain
amazon.com or
ad.doubleclick.net. To accomplish this, we will:
- create a ContentView with the URL amazon.com, which we'll call Amazon Only
- create a ContentView with the URL ad.doubleclick.net, which we'll call Doubleclick Only
- create another ContentView that excludes any members of the other two ContentViews, that is, containing neither amazon.com nor ad.doubleclick.net, but some other 3rd party content; we'll call it Not Amazon or Doubleclick
Example: Adding First ContentView
Here's how to create the first ContentView,
Amazon Only:
- Click the Add button in the ContentViews properties panel to display the Add ContentView dialog

- Enter Amazon Only in the Name field
- Click on the


- This displays the Add ContentView Component dialog; the left side window defaults to an expanded Domains list:

Scroll down to see the URLs list:

or, if you have previously added any ContentViews, scroll further to see this list:

Note: If you're using Windows, you'll see an arrow
instead of a plus sign box 
Select one or more Domains, one or more URLs, or one or more ContentViews (use <CTRL>-click to select multiples) from the Available list on the left, then click on the → to move your selection to the Included list on the right. There are no minimums or maximums to the number of selections you can add to your ContentView.
You can also click the New button to display the Add Component dialog and enter a specific URL:

- For this example, select
amazon.com from the Domains list under Available in the Add ContentView Component dialog and click the → to move it to the Included list
- Click OK; the right side of the Add ContentView Component dialog will display
amazon.com
- Click OK; the Add ContentView dialog will be displayed with
amazon.com in the Filter window
- Click OK; the ContentViews sidebar properties window will display the ContentView name Amazon Only
Example: Adding Second ContentView
To create the second ContentView,
Doubleclick Only, repeat the above steps, entering
Doubleclick Only in the
Name field, and select
ad.doubleclick.net from the Domains list in the
Add ContentView Component dialog.
| Note the Match Type options in the Add Component dialog. If you select Plain Text, the filter will match anywhere within the domain portion of the URL. If you select Regular Expression, the filter will match anywhere in the whole URL, including any field pairs in the query string. |
Example: Adding Third ContentView (to Exclude ContentViews 1 and 2)
Next, create the ContentView
Not Amazon or Doubleclick that contains all Domains in the transaction
other than amazon.com or
ad.doubleclick.net:
- Click the Add button in the ContentViews properties panel to display the Add ContentView dialog
- Enter Not Amazon or Doubleclick in the Name field
- Click on the
to display the Add ContentView Component dialog
- This time, click the New button on the right to display the Add Component dialog
- In the Type field, select ContentView from the dropdown list
- Click in the blank field under Parameters to display a dropdown list of ContentViews; there will be two: Amazon Only and Doubleclick Only
- Select Amazon Only
- Check the box for Exclude from ContentView; the Add Component dialog should look like this:

- Click OK; the Add ContentView Component dialog will display a "funnel" icon with a red X next to Amazon Only
Repeat the above steps to add
Doubleclick Only to the
Not Amazon or Doubleclick ContentView:
- Click the New button in Add ContentView Component to display the Add Component dialog
- Select ContentView from the dropdown list for Type
- Select Doubleclick Only from the Parameters dropdown list
- Check the Exclude from ContentView box and click OK
- Verify that the right-hand box of the Add ContentView Component dialog shows:

- Click OK; the Add ContentView dialog for Not Amazon or Doubleclick will show the Amazon Only and Doubleclick Only ContentViews
- Click OK; the ContentViews sidebar properties window will display the ContentView names Amazon Only, Doubleclick Only, and Not Amazon or Doubleclick
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Example: Adding Single Exclusionary ContentView
If you want a single ContentView that will be for specific 3rd Party objects, you can create a regular expression to exclude any objects whose URL contains a specific string. For a set of strings, you can create a regular expression using logical notation.
For example, say you want a ContentView for objects that do NOT contain the string
amazon anywhere in the URL. In the
Add Component dialog:
- Enter amazon in the URL field
- Select the Match Type Regular Expression
- Click the Exclude from ContentView check box
- Click OK
In the case where you want a ContentView for objects that don't contain any of the strings
amazon,
doubleclick, or
mdn anywhere in the URL, in the
Add Component dialog:
- Enter amazon|doubleclick|mdn in the URL field (where | is the logical
OR or vertical bar)
- Select the Match Type Regular Expression
- Click the Exclude from ContentView check box
- Click OK
Note that the strings must be
OR 'ed together, not listed and excluded separately, in order to assure exclusion of all objects with any of those strings in one ContentView.
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Adding ContentViews Using the Validation Selector
ContentViews also can be added while recording, or while replaying at the
Action or
Event level.
Note: if you want to have your ContentViews for the entire transaction, follow the steps in the
previous section using the Properties Sidebar.
While recording a new transaction:
- Start recording by clicking the Begin recording button
, then navigate to your starting page
- At any time during recording, when DéjàClick pauses for the next step, the Validation selector icon in the toolbar will illuminate; click on the down arrow to select Add ContentViews, which displays the Add ContentView dialog

- Follow the steps for adding your ContentView as described above
- The ContentViews sidebar properties window will display the ContentView names you created.
While replaying a recorded transaction:
- Select Replay Next Action or Replay Next Event from the DéjàClick toolbar Replay dropdown
- Click the Replay button to step through the transaction
- When the replay pauses, the Validation selector icon will illuminate; click on the down arrow to select Add ContentViews to bring up the Add ContentView dialog
- Follow the steps for adding your ContentView as described above
- The ContentViews sidebar properties window will display the ContentView names you created.
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Advanced ContentView Configuration
In addition to partitioning on URLs, ContentViews, and predefined lists, the
Add ContentView dialog displays 3 optional attributes you can use in addition to the URLs or Domains to separate URLs by:
| Linux/Unix |
Windows |
|
|
- Content Types - application, images, text
- Click the + (Linux) or
(Windows) next to Content Types to expand its configuration selections
- Check the box for Filter on Content Type to activate the list in the window below it
- Click on the types you don't want included in this in ContentView and then click the red circled X to remove it
Only content types displayed in the list are included in this ContentView
- If you want to add a Content Type to the list, click the
next to Filter on Content Type and enter in the new Content Type you want to filter on
- Content Length - minimum and maximum length of pages in bytes
- Click the + (Linux) or
(Windows) next to Content Length below the Filter window to expand its configuration selections
- Enter the Minimum size in bytes in the first field and the Maximum size in bytes in the second field
Any content within these values will be included in this ContentView
- Scope - Action or Event script level
- Click the + (Linux) or
(Windows) next to Scope below the Filter window to expand its configuration selections
- Click the check marks to the left of the actions and events you want to deselect
Actions or events with a check mark will be included in this ContentView
These 3 optional filter dialogs are:
The
Add ContentView dialog also allows you to configure the ContentView to continue to the next action or event when an error is encountered by checking the box under
Replay Options.
This option should be checked if the ContentView does not contain the critical path of the transaction.
After your transaction has been recorded and you've configured your ContentViews, upload the script to your AlertSite Console by clicking the
Remote Services button

in the DéjàClick toolbar and selecting
Upload Recording from the dropdown. Log in and fill in the
Upload dialog as needed.
After uploading your script, the AlertSite Console's
Manage Transaction screen will appear in a new tab, allowing you to make any configuration changes, such as monitoring type, timeouts, locations, etc. This screen also displays sections for Fullpage Option, Capture Options, ContentViews, and Transaction Description.
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Notification Control
You are now able to configure notifiers in your AlertSite Console for ContentViews. For the most control over notifications,
it is highly recommended that you create
Notifier Groups for all ContentViews otherwise all notifiers in the Console will be alerted on ContentView errors. This takes advantage of the main reasons for utilizing ContentViews. By using Notifier Groups, you select who is to be notified based on content of interest.
By default, ContentViews notifications are enabled in the
ContentView Settings section of the
Manage Transaction screen:
De-select the check boxes next to any ContentViews for which you do not want to receive alerts.
To receive notifications for the
base transaction, make sure the
Notify on Error field in the
Device Settings section of the
Manage Transaction screen is set to
Yes, because the script could fail while the ContentViews could still be successful.
In the Console Dashboard, any transaction that was recorded with ContentViews will display a
CV icon next to its listing in the
Devices tab. To see the individual ContentViews, first, assure that
Show ContentViews in device grid: is set to
Yes in the Dashboard
Preferences tab, then click the plus sign

next to the device name. To see the monitoring locations, click the plus sign next to the ContentViews:
The CV icon is displayed even if ContentViews is disabled in the
Manage Transaction screen.
From the AlertSite Console's Control Menu:
- Hover over Notifiers and select Notifier Groups from the dropdown to display the Configure Notifier Groups screen
- Click the Add a New Group button in the upper right to display the Manage Notifier Groups screen showing the Available Sites and Available Notifiers on the right-hand side

- Enter a name in the Notifier Group Name field, e.g., Amazon Only CV Group
- Click on the ContentView line, displayed in teal font, that you want included in the Notifier Group (<CTRL>-Click to select multiple lines); for our example, we'll select Amazon site ContentView: Amazon Only
- Click the Add Site(s) double arrows << to move it to the Included Sites box
- Click on the notifier in the Available Notifiers section and click << to move it to the Included Notifiers box (<CTRL>-Click to select multiple lines); for our illustration, we'll select Administrator, Operations, and Management.
- Click the Submit button in the upper right to save your changes
- Return to the Configure Notifier Groups screen (Up link or Notifiers→Notifier Groups) to add more Notifier Groups:
- Add a Notifier Group named Doubleclick Ads Only CV Group, selecting Amazon site ContentView: Doubleclick Only from Available Sites and Marketing from Available Notifiers
- Return to the Configure Notifier Groups screen
- Add a Notifier Group named No Amazon or Doubleclick Content Group, selecting Amazon site ContentView: Not Amazon or Doubleclick from Available Sites and Administrator and Operations from Available Notifiers
The completed Notifier Groups pages will appear as:
Now, when the pages with the
amazon.com domain produce errors, only the notifiers
Administrator,
Operations, and
Management will be notified, if pages with
ad.doubleclick.net in the domain name are in error, only notifier
Marketing will be alerted, and when pages with any domains other than
amazon.com or
ad.doubleclick.net are in error, only
Administrator and
Operations will receive alerts.
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ContentViews Reporting
After uploading the transaction to your account, it will take some time for the transaction to propagate out to your selected monitoring locations and begin gathering performance measurements. Allow 10-15 minutes past your monitoring interval before attempting to run a report.
You can produce graphs/charts based on selected ContentViews.
- Performance Graphs (Availability, Response Time, etc.)
- Scatter Plots
- Report API for data extraction
When a transaction has been configured with ContentViews, the AlertSite Console Performance Reports screen will display the ContentViews in
teal font below the main transaction in the Site/Device list:
To illustrate the properties of ContentViews-partitioned reports, we've created a couple of reports for the
Amazon Only and
Doubleclick Only ContentViews:
A line of measurements has been expanded in each one. By clicking the
+ and drilling down to the object level, you can see that the list of objects in
Amazon Only contains only objects with
amazon.com in the URL:
The objects in
Doubleclick Only contain only objects with the domain
ad.doubleclick.net:
The objects in
Not Amazon or Doubleclick contain only objects that don't include the domains
amazon.com or
ad.doubleclick.net:
In this way, reports with relevance for particular groups or individuals can be created and scheduled, then distributed on an as-needed basis.
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