Managing Pattern Expressions

Message Analyzer enables you to save OPN behavior scenarios as Pattern expression items that you can share with others. Whenever you create a new Pattern expression or edit a copy of an existing one, you can save it to the local Pattern expression Library. Message Analyzer enables you to share your Pattern expression items with others by providing you with the capability to manage this Library. The management capabilities are provided in the Manage Pattern dialog that contains similar functionality that you use to manage any of the Message Analyzer asset collections that are described in Saving Settings.

Managing and Sharing Pattern Expressions

To manage your Pattern expression items in the Message Analyzer Sequence Expressions asset collection Library, click the Manage Patterns button on the toolbar of the Pattern Match viewer. This action will display the Manage Pattern Expression dialog, from where you can export and import selected Pattern expressions. You can also Delete any Pattern expression in the My Items category from the Manage Pattern Expression dialog. You can export Pattern expressions directly to a file share to provide other users with access to your expressions, or you can import Pattern expressions directly from a file share to obtain access to the expressions of other users.

You can also export Pattern expression items through a user feed that you configure from the Settings tab of the Asset Manager dialog, in which you point your feed to a file share or other designated location where you will export your items; the Asset Manager is accessible from the global Message Analyzer Tools menu. Thereafter, your Pattern expression items are accessible to any Message Analyzer user that can access the feed. Your feed will appear on the Downloads tab of the Message Analyzer Asset Manager dialog, where other users can access a consistent interface that enables them to download your postings. However, if you want to enable users to synchronize with updates to your Pattern expression items, some manual configuration is required, as described in Manual Item Update Synchronization.

In addition, Microsoft provides a default Message Analyzer feed on the Downloads tab of the Asset Manager dialog that enables you to download the Message Analyzer Sequence Expression asset collection from a Microsoft web service and to synchronize with collection updates that are periodically pushed out by the service. At any time, you can perform a download of an auto-synced collection from the Settings tab on the Asset Manager dialog. Thereafter, you can access and apply the downloaded or synchronized items from the local Pattern expression Library in the AVAILABLE PATTERNS list of the Pattern Match viewer.

More Information
To learn more about the common Manage <AssetType> dialog and the management capabilities it provides for Message Analyzer Library asset collections, see Managing User Libraries.
To learn more about the Message Analyzer Sharing Infrastructure, see Sharing Infrastructure, Creating Custom User Feeds, and Sharing Asset Collections on a User File Share.