convert (Compute)

When To Use

Use convert for one of two fixed conversions on a column:

• hex2Dec turns a hexadecimal string into its decimal value. The engine strips a 0x prefix, colons, and whitespace before parsing, so 0x1F, 1f, and 1A:2B:3C all convert. Use it before arithmetic computes (multiply, divide…) or perBitTranslation^[1], which require decimal input.
• array2SimpleStatus collapses a pipe-separated array of statuses (ok, degraded, failed, case-insensitive) into the single worst status. It is the standard follow-up to arrayTranslate^[2] when a device reports several status codes for one component.

Syntax

sources:
  enclosureStatus:
    # Enclosure;Vendor;Model;SerialNumber;Status;StatusInformation;PowerConsumption
    type: ipmi
    computes:
    - type: keepOnlyMatchingLines
      column: 1
      valueList: enclosure
    - type: convert
      column: 5
      conversion: array2SimpleStatus

Properties

Table Transformation Example

With conversion: array2SimpleStatus on column 2 (simplified table):

Severity order is failed > degraded > ok; values that are none of the three are ignored, and a cell containing no recognized status becomes UNKNOWN.

With conversion: hex2Dec, a cell containing 0x1F becomes 31, and 1A:2B becomes 6699.

Recommended Pattern

• Chain arrayTranslate (codes to ok/degraded/failed) then convert with array2SimpleStatus to derive one monitorable state from a status array, as WinStorageSpaces does.
• Apply hex2Dec immediately after acquisition so every downstream compute and the mapping deal with plain decimal numbers.
• Keep a duplicateColumn copy of the raw array if you also want the detail as informational text.

Common Mistakes

• Feeding array2SimpleStatus untranslated numeric codes: only ok, degraded, and failed tokens are recognized, so raw codes yield UNKNOWN. Translate first.
• Applying hex2Dec to a value that is not valid hexadecimal: the row is left unchanged and a warning is logged, which can go unnoticed.
• Confusing conversion values: they are camelCase (hex2Dec, array2SimpleStatus), not hex2dec.
• Counting columns from 0: column is 1-based, like everywhere else in connectors.

Community Examples

• IpmiTool^[3]
• LinuxIpmiTool^[4]
• WinStorageSpaces^[5]

From WinStorageSpaces, included directly from the connector source:

# Convert the array of status to a simple status (keep the worse one)
- type: convert
  column: 3
  conversion: array2SimpleStatus