Administration Guide

Adding Create Service Actions

To add a Create Service Action for the Active Directory Import tool, the Alloy Discovery Connector, or the Mail Connector, follow the instructions below.

INFO: For information on Service Actions, see Service Actions.

INFO:For instructions on configuring Create Service Actions for the Self Service Portal, see Configuring Create Actions.

  1. From the Sidebar, navigate to Workflow and Business Logic > [Module] > [Object Class] > Workflow > Actions > Service Actions.
  2. Click New and select Create Action for [Service]. The Create Action for [Service] [ID] dialog box opens. For example, to configure a Create Service Action for the Active Directory Import tool, select New > Create Action for Active Directory Import [ID].

    NOTE: Note the unique auto-generated ID value. You can use this ID to quickly access the corresponding Action. For details, see Accessing Workflow Items or Components by ID.

  3. On the General tab, specify the following properties of the Service Action:
    1. Type the Action name in the Name field.
    2. Optional: Enter a description of this Action in the Description field.

      NOTE: Keep the Enabled check box selected. Otherwise, this Action will be unavailable when configuring the Alloy Navigator service.

  4. Normally you should use a Template to initialize an object when the object is created. To assign a Template, click the Template tab. Here you can choose one of reusable Templates, or create a new Template.
    • To choose an existing Template, select it in the Template list.

      NOTE: If you want to customize the selected Template, click Make Custom and make your changes as described below. For details, see Creating Templates.

    • To create a new Template, keep <Custom> in the Template field. This will create a new custom Template. You will be able to convert it into a reusable Template later, if needed. Under Template Definition, specify how this Template will assign initial values to fields of newly created objects:
      1. Click New. A new row appears.
      2. Select an object field in the Field Name field and enter its initial value in the Value field.

      Repeat these steps to assign values to other fields you want the Template to initialize. If you want to remove a field from the Template, select it and click Delete.

      NOTE: If you want to make your custom Template available for use in other Actions, click Make Reusable, enter a Template name, and save the Template. For details, see Creating Templates.

  5. Alloy Navigator uses internal services to import data from external sources. Service mapping defines how attributes from the source data correspond to object fields in Alloy Navigator database.

    Click the Field Mapping tab and review the default mapping for the service which you are creating the Action for. The default mapping is usually sufficient, but you can modify or delete default mapping rules, or create new rules as follows:

    • To add a new mapping rule:
      1. Click New. The Field Mapping dialog box opens.
      2. Depending on the field type, proceed as follows:
        1. If you want the service to modify an object field directly:
          1. Click Object Field.
          2. Select a physical object field from the Name list.
        2. 2) If you want to map a source attribute to a virtual field for passing its value to other workflow components:
          1. Click Virtual Field.
          2. Type a field name.
          3. Select a data type from the Type list.
        3. Under Service Attribute, select the source data attribute from the Name list. The list contains attributes that are specific for each particular service:
          • Active Directory Import Tool You can choose any Active Directory attribute such as givenName or telephoneNumber. Active Directory attributes available in the Name list depend on the Action’s target object class (Person, Organization, or Location) and match the data type of the specified object field.

            INFO: For details on Active Directory attributes, see the “Attributes” section in the “Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services Schema” article in the MSDN Library (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc221082%28PROT.10%29.aspx).

            NOTE: In addition to Active Directory attributes, the list also contains some pseudo attributes, such as: Manager (Link to Person) this pseudo attribute allows you to relate a Person with its Manager via direct relationship. It is used for the Manager field mapping. memberOf (raw)this pseudo attribute allows you to import unmodified content of multivalued memberOf Active Directory attribute. If you want to get comma separated list of group names, use the memberOf service attribute for the field mapping.

            NOTE: If you want to import person pictures from the thumnailPhoto attribute, note that the Active Directory Synchronization supports only JPEG, PNG, and BMP image formats.

          • Mail Connector — Depending on the data type of the specified object field, you can choose the message Content or any common e-mail header field such as From or Subject.

            You can use a calculated Priority field, which is a text string containing one of these values: Low, Normal, or High. The Priority field aggregation value is a result of several e-mail header values, such as Importance, X-Priority, and X-MSMail-Priority, which are commonly used by multiple e-mail clients to indicate the importance of the message to the receiver. You can also use a logical Auto-Generated field ( True or False). Its value is set to True, when a message contains one of the specific e-mail headers, such as X-Autogenerated, List-Unsubscribe, List-Id, Feedback-ID, etc. This attribute can be used to define workflow behavior based on the received e-mail message (e.g. "Create Work Order (Mail Connector)" Action #143).

            In addition, Mail Connector service attributes include the ObjectRef mail parser and other virtual fields from your parsing rules.

            INFO: For details, see Understanding the System Parsing Rule.

          • The Alloy Discovery Connector — You can choose any data type compatible Alloy Discovery field.

            INFO: For details on Alloy Discovery fields, see Administration Guide: Field Customization and the Alloy Discovery Database Reference Guide, which is available at the Alloy Support Portal.

        4. If your Action is for the Alloy Discovery Connector, you will be prompted to login into Alloy Discovery after clicking the Name list.

          INFO: Depending on the service which you are configuring the Service Action for, see the following resources for details on service attributes: Active Directory Import tool see the “Attributes” section in the “Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services Schema” article in the MSDN Library (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc221082%28PROT.10%29.aspx).

          INFO: Mail Connector — see RFC-2822 “Internet Message Format” at http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2822.

          INFO: The Alloy Discovery Connector — see Alloy Discovery documentation shipped with Alloy Discovery 2023: Alloy Discovery 2023 Administration Guide and the Alloy Discovery 2023 Database Reference Guide, which is available at the Alloy Support Portal.

        5. Click OK.
    • To modify an existing mapping rule:
      1. Double-click a rule. The Field Mapping dialog box opens.
      2. Make your changes, then click OK.
    • To delete a mapping rule, select it and click Delete.
    • To restore the default mapping and therefore undo all of your customizations, click Default.
  6. If your Service Action needs to perform additional operations on the newly created object or generate e-mail notifications, click the Programming tab.
    1. Under Operations, click New > [Operation] and specify the operation details.

      INFO: For details, see Adding Operations.

      Repeat this step to add other operations as needed.

    2. By default, all operations are executed unconditionally. If needed, you can enclose your operation in conditional blocks.

      INFO: For details, see Building Conditional Statements.

      IMPORTANT: Any workflow operation within a Function, Action, or Trigger can be enabled or disabled. Only enabled operations will be executed. For details, see Disabling and Enabling Operations.

  7. If you want to categorize the Service Action by assigning it to one or more Processes, click the Processes tab and follow the instructions on assigning Actions to Processes.

    INFO: For details, see Assigning Workflow Items to Processes..

  8. When done, click OK.