Custom Properties

IT Asset Management (Cloud)

The complexities of managing software licenses within your corporate processes inevitably means you will want additional fields to record data specific to your enterprise. This section explains how you can specify additional properties for various objects that are displayed in the property sheets and your custom reports within IT Asset Management.

Note: If you are using a cloud-based implementation of IT Asset Management, you do not have direct access to the database, and you cannot "do it yourself". However, you may use this section to understand and specify your requirements. You can then send a support request to Flexera specifying all the details you require, and your custom property will be added on your behalf.

The broad overview of the process is:

1. Plan your custom property, including its control type, and where it should appear in the properties of its parent object.
2. In Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio, execute specific SQL procedures to declare your customization in a "top down" manner. For example, if you want an extra field in a new section of an entirely new tab of properties, you must first declare the tab, then the section, and then the field. Objects are positioned relative to others that already exist in the database. In running the procedures, you must also refer to all objects and properties by their internal names, or by numerical mappings. Those names and mappings are included below, in Internal Property Names for Applications and the following similar topics.
3. Customizations are available immediately after the SQL procedure is run, so you can review the results immediate in the web interface for IT Asset Management. You can also immediately commence storing data in your new custom field through the web interface, as the database has been updated to store your data.
4. While the compliance database and the web interface are updated immediately, the data model for the Business Adapter Studio installed on your inventory beacon(s) is updated by a scheduled task running overnight (central server time). This means waiting until next day before importing values with a business adapter to your new custom field.

Tip: In general, customizations you make to the user interface and database are preserved through product upgrades. The one exception is the rare case where a product upgrade removes the 'anchor', the object used for positioning your custom control. In this case, both the anchor and your custom control disappear (although the data entered through the control is preserved and is still available in your customer reports). You can remedy this rare case by re-declaring the missing custom control relative to a new anchor. This restores your customization in the web interface, with full access to the previously-recorded data values.

Limitations

In the web interface, a custom property is displayed in the property sheet of your chosen object, and it is automatically available in the report builder for inclusion in custom reports. However, custom properties and associated data is not available in the following:

• Standard, factory-supplied reports
• Grids in management views
• Search fields, including within property sheets
• Flexera Analytics / IBM Cognos.

As well, custom properties are always editable in property sheets (they cannot be made read-only in that context), and you cannot provide any validation to check data entered into the custom control.

In declaring internal names for your custom properties, you should adopt a stringent naming convention that starts with your own company name-space (a consistent abbreviation for your enterprise name, such as AE for Acme Enterprises). You'll next find it convenient to name the object type that you are adding (such as Asset). Finally, add the individual name of the property. Separate each of these naming elements with an underscore. Use only characters in the following ranges: a-z, A-Z, 0-9, and underscore (_). (Specifically do not use a dot or dash.) A valid example name is:

AE_Asset_ChargeBackValue

Warning: Do not use a naming convention that starts with the database object name and uses a dot as a separator. This combination produces obscure errors. Starting with your own name space makes it safe, and using an underscore separator also makes it safe.