Using code blocks

Code blocks present commands, scripts, filenames and paths, code, and similar information in a structured, readable format. They're a standard convention in software documentation. Commvault documentation offers a valuable innovation in this documentation standard: interactive code blocks.

Important

Carefully review any code before you run it, whether it's from an interactive or static code block.
When you refresh a page after changing placeholders in an interactive code block, all changed placeholders revert to their default values.

Interactive code blocks

Interactive code blocks make placeholders easy to identify—and to customize for your environment—without even leaving the documentation page. In addition, interactive code blocks use visual cues and behaviors that show you how placeholders are updated.

Practical Example

db2 update db cfg for Primary_Database_Name using TRACKMOD on 
db2 update db cfg for Primary_Database_Name using LOGARCHMETH1 "'VENDOR:Software_installation_location/Base/libDb2Sbt.so'" 
db2 update db cfg for Primary_Database_Name using LOGARCHOPT1 "'CvClientName=Cluster Server Name,CvInstanceName=Instance001'" 
db2 update db cfg for Primary_Database_Name using VENDOROPT "'CvClientName=Cluster Server Name,CvInstanceName=Instance001'" 
db2 update db cfg for Primary_Database_Name using LOGINDEXBUILD on 
db2 update db cfg for Primary_Database_Name using INDEXREC RESTART

Conceptual Example

Late at night, user logged into server after hearing whispers of threat.
Inside the logs, user checked database to confirm that action was ready.
With one command, user launched action on database through server.
The console replied: database was safe, trait as ever, and user could rest.

By morning, user reviewed the report: every server had completed action.
Each database stood trait, prepared to withstand threat again. 
Later that week, user ran another test across server clusters. 
The process showed that action worked seamlessly, no matter the scale.
Every database responded the same way, trait and ready. 

In the end, user knew that no matter how often threat appeared, server and database would endure. 
trait was not just a promise—it was a practice, proven again and again.

Placeholder functions and behaviors

A. Block-level placeholders

Block-level placeholders appear in a toolbar above the code block. Editing block-level placeholders is ideal for values—such as client_name and backupset_name—that must be the same in the entire code block.

When you edit a block-level placeholder, all matching placeholders in the code block are updated.
B. Snippet-level placeholders

Snippet-level placeholders appear inside code blocks.

To change only one instance of a placeholder, edit only that snippet-level placeholder.
C. Snippet-level overrides

When you edit a snippet-level placeholder that was previously updated by a block-level value, the snippet-level placeholder is unlinked from the block-level placeholder. This behavior preserves your block-level changes in connected fields while you change one field without affecting the other, linked placeholders.

Placeholder shading

Placeholder shading indicates the following:

Blue: Unedited
Yellow:
- Block-level placeholders: Edited
- Snippet-level placeholders: Updated by and linked to its matching block-level placeholder
Orange (snippet-level only): Edited to a different value and unlinked from its matching block-level placeholder

Static code blocks

Static (non-interactive) code blocks also often—but not always—contain placeholders that need to be replaced.

Examples of static code blocks that don't require placeholders:

A code block that shows commands you can copy, paste, and run as-is:
```
qlist schedule
```

A code block that displays the results of a command, such as example logs or errors:

TIME              BACKUPJOBS          RESTOREJOBS        ADMINJOBS
Sun 12:30:45      0                   0                  4 
Mon 12:30:45      0                   0                  4 
Tue 12:30:45      0                   0                  4 
Wed 12:30:45      0                   0                  4 
Thu 12:30:45      0                   0                  4 
Fri 12:30:45      0                   0                  4 
Sat 12:30:45      0                   0                  4