Assigning User Forms

In the context of data loading, user forms are used to perform background processing. For example, forms can work in conjunction with resource adapters to process information from an external resource before storing it in the Waveset repository. They can also be used to place users in the correct Organization based on input user data.

The user view is a data structure that contains all available information about an Waveset user. It includes:

• Attributes stored in the Waveset repository

• Attributes fetched from resource accounts

• Information derived from other sources such as resources, roles, and organizations

Views contain many attributes, and a view attribute is a named value within the view (for example, waveset.accountId is the attribute in the user view whose value is the Waveset account name).

Most form field names are associated with a view attribute. You associate a field with a view attribute by specifying the name of the view attribute as the name of the form field. For more information on the user view, including a reference for all attributes in the user view, see the chapter titled Views.

The following fields are often in a user form that loads users.

• firstname

• lastname

• fullname

• email

• waveset.accountId

• waveset.organization

• EmployeeId

The waveset.accountId and waveset.organization are values specific to Waveset. The EmployeeId attribute is a customized attribute. Its use is illustrated in Defining Custom Correlation Keys.

Waveset provides numerous forms that are pre-loaded into the system. Additional forms are also available in the $WSHOME/sample/forms directory. Many of the forms in this directory are resource-specific. You might wish to review these forms with the Identity Manager IDE to determine whether they should be used in production.

To increase performance during bulk operations, the user form assigned to an administrator should be as simple as possible. If you want to create a form for data loading, then you can remove code that is designed to display data. Another example of simplifying the form would be if you use bulk add actions. Your CSV file could define basic attributes such as firstname and lastname. These attributes could then be removed from the administrator’s user form. See the chapter titled Waveset Forms for more information about creating and editing forms.

Do not directly modify a form provided with Waveset. Instead, you should make a copy of the form, give it a unique name, and edit the renamed copy. This will prevent your customized copy from being overwritten during upgrades and service pack updates.