Splunk 6 Web Framework: setting the initial value of a TimeRangeView after page load

[helge]

I am passing URL parameters to a view built with Django and the web framework in Splunk 6. Among those paramters are the earliest and latest time, which I need to apply to the TimeRangeView on the page. That works, too, but only if the timerange does not have a preset. If if does, the value my code sets is overwritten a few hundred milliseconds later by the preset value.

This is my code:

1. content block:

   {% timerange id="timerange1" managerid="search1" preset="Today" earliest_time="$earlyval$"|token_safe latest_time="$lateval$"|token_safe %}

2. js block:

   var deps =
   [
   "splunkjs/ready!",
   "splunkjs/mvc/timerangeview"
   ];
   require(deps, function(mvc)
   {
   // Get the parameters
   var paramEarliest = getParameterByName("earliest");
   var paramLatest = getParameterByName("latest");

   // Set the timerange
   if (paramEarliest != "" && paramLatest != "")
   {
   var timerange = splunkjs.mvc.Components.getInstance("timerange1");
   timerange.settings.set("value", {"earliest_time" : paramEarliest, "latest_time" : paramLatest});
   }
   });

How can wait until the preset has been applied before I set my custom values?
Alternatively: how can I disable the preset in my script?

[dfoster_splunk · Accepted solution]

I've coded up a sample that conditionally either sets a preset or sets a specific value:
https://gist.github.com/davidfstr/eb7fdf952d4648b4957c

In general you should be using timerange.settings to alter the properties of a TimeRangeView (or any component) after it is initialized. Any underscore-prefixed field or method like timerange._state is private and may change without warning in future framework versions.

[dfoster_splunk]

You're right about view.settings not being documented. It should be. I'll get on that.

[dfoster_splunk]

Would it be correct to say that a preset configured in Django cannot be overwritten in JavaScript?

It should be reconfigurable. The original code was actually hitting an unrelated bug that prevented changes to {earliest_time, latest_time} during initialization time if no "value" property was set. This bug should be fixed in the next Splunk release.

[helge]

I replaced timerange._state with timerange.settings in the question.

[helge]

Thanks - "settings.set" is certainly better; I would have used it if it were documented!
Your script shows a nice workaround to having a preset and a custom timerange. Would it be correct to say that a preset configured in Django cannot be overwritten in JavaScript?