Object Element

The Object element defines one object in the central compliance database that is created or updated by an Import.

Every Import element contains at least one, and possibly several, Object elements. In turn, an Object element contains many Property elements that map the incoming data values to the properties of the database object within the compliance database of IT Asset Management.

The ordering of the Object elements is important, as they are processed in the same order that they appear in the adapter XML file. Therefore (for example), if an adapter imports purchases that reference new vendors, it is important that the Object element for vendors appears earlier in its parent Import list than the Object element for the purchases. If this ordering is wrong, the overall processing may fail when a purchase (processed too early) fails to reference the vendor that has not yet been created.

With multiple Object elements in an import, it is critical that their Name attributes are unique. Other than the requirement for uniqueness, the Name is an arbitrary value to assist your understanding of the incoming data. The mapping to the destination database objects is done by the mandatory Type attribute.

Example

<Object 
   Name="MachineRoomAsset1" 
   Type="Asset"
   Output="RefAssetID"
   Create="true"
   Update="true"
   UpdateRule="AddToExistingRecords"
   CustomComputerMatching=""
   <Property...>
     ...
   </Property> ...
</Object>

Contains

Child	Comments
Property	Mandatory. Identifies a single property of an object in the central compliance database, maps a data source column to this property, and specifies appropriate business rules governing the data.

Contained by

Import.

Supported attributes

Attributes of the Object element are divided into:

• Those applying in general to all objects
• Additional attributes specific to the import of custom objects.

General purpose attributes

These attributes apply to all Object elements.

Name

Mandatory. Uniquely identify the imported object in the XML file. Special characters and spaces should not be used.

Type

Mandatory. Specifies the compliance database object affected by the import. The value must be an exact match for one of the values listed in Object Type Attribute.

Output

Mandatory. Specify a column name (which must be unique across all objects within the current Import) which is added to the object definition to include the ID of each record of this Object that is created, updated, or looked up in the central operations databases (specifically, the compliance database). When objects need to reference one another, they use the ID contained in this variable.

Create

Mandatory. Boolean. Where the incoming data does not match an existing database object of the declared Type:

• true means that a new record of the same type is created
• false means that the incoming record is rejected as unmatched.

Update

Mandatory. Boolean. Where the incoming data matches an existing database object of the declared Type:

• true means the existing record is updated with the incoming values
• false means that the incoming record is rejected as already existing.

UpdateRule

Optional. Sets the behavior for updating relationships between this object and other related objects in the compliance database (based on matching key property values). Rules are specific to each relationship, and are listed in UpdateRule Attribute. Only one update rule may be specified for each object.

CustomComputer Matching

Mandatory if the import object is an asset (and otherwise ignored). This attribute allows you to disable or replace the logic that links newly-created assets with existing inventory devices already in the compliance database. Available values:

• An empty string means that the built-in logic will be executed:

  CustomComputerMatching=""

• A string of only spaces means that the built-in logic will be disabled:

  CustomComputerMatching="  "

• You may provide the name of a stored procedure, or a raw SQL statement, that will link newly-created assets with existing inventory devices. For further information and examples, see Customizing the Asset-Device Linkage.