(v24) Specify Custom User Attributes

Specify Custom User Attributes

This applies to: Visual Data Discovery

Custom user attributes are defined and managed in the Symphony interface. For more information, see: Add a Custom Attribute.

• If you are hosting users who connect solely to embedded Visual Data Discovery content as trusted access users in a specific tenant, use the Custom User Attributes enumerated here to define what your users can access and what they see. This requires use of the trusted access method of Pull for user information and connection.

• If you use the trusted access method of Push for user information and connection, custom attributes must be set using the API. API documentation is provided with your Symphony installation at this link: <symphony-URL>/discovery/swagger-ui.html.

Users existing in Symphony and information is pulled from Symphony.

You can define custom attributes for a user definition if you are logged in as a Symphony tenant administrator or as a user who is assigned to a group with user management privileges.

Use custom attributes to store values that can be used as parameters, or variables, in connection definitions, data source row security filters, and in custom SQL.

A primary use of custom attributes is for user credential pass-through. Add credentials to a user's custom attributes so users with access to a particular data source connected to Symphony can use these saved credentials to main access privileges for that source within Symphony.

Note: User attributes set in for Symphony users via the UI or using LDAP user definitions are encrypted when stored in metadata. To specify the encryption mode, see Change the Encryption Mode.

Custom attributes are defined using the Custom Attributes tab when you edit the user.

When you reference custom attributes in connection definitions, action URLs, attribute definitions, or data source custom SQL, they take the form ${User.<custom-attribute-name>}.

This section covers the following topics:

• Supplied Context Variables

• Add a Custom Attribute for a User

• Remove a Custom Attribute from a User

• Specifying Multivalue (Array) Custom Attributes

• Specifying Numeric Values in Custom Attributes

• Specifying Time Values in Custom Attributes

Supplied Context Variables

The following context variables are provided with Symphony.

• ${User.composerUserName}:include to insert the name of the user that is currently logged in.

• ${User.accountId}: include to insert the account ID of the user that is currently logged in.

• ${User.credentials}: include to pass the session ID or trusted access token (in embedded environments) of the user.

You do not need to create custom user attributes for the user name or account ID.  Use these supplied context variables instead.

Add a Custom Attribute for a User

Add a custom attribute for a user

1. Access the Custom Attributes tab for the user. See Modify Users.

2. Select Add Custom Attribute. A blank line is added to the Custom Attributes tab.

3. Supply values for the attribute, as described in the following table.

   Tab Field	Description
   Key	Specify the name of the custom attribute in Symphony displays. The name cannot include braces.
   Value	Specify one or more values for the custom attribute. See Specifying Multivalue (Array) Custom Attributes, Specifying Numeric Values in Custom Attributes, and Specifying Time Values in Custom Attributes.
   Usage	Shows how the attribute appears in text entry fields of the Symphony application.
   Secure	Select this checkbox if you want to encrypt the custom attribute values.
   Delete	Select to remove the attribute.

4. When all values have been specified, select Save to save the user.

Remove a Custom Attribute from a User

Remove a custom attribute for a user

1. Access the Custom Attributes tab for the user. See Add Users or Modify Users.

   The defined custom attributes are listed.

2. Select corresponding to the attribute you want to remove.

3. When you're done updating or removing all attributes, select Save to save the user.

Specifying Multivalue (Array) Custom Attributes

For multivalue user attributes (arrays), the elements must be comma-separated and contain no redundant white spaces between elements. These multivalue custom attributes should only be used as arrays in INCLUDE and EXCLUDE filter operations. With all other filter operations, the custom attribute values are used as-is. For example, an INCLUDE or EXCLUDE row security filter that uses a multivalue custom attribute containing the array (["apples", "oranges", "bananas"]) will interpret the values as three separate values, splitting the values on commas. However, an EQUAL or NOT EQUAL row security filter using the same multivalue custom attribute would interpret the array values as a single value ("apples,oranges,bananas").

Null values in multivalue custom attributes are processed as a special text marker - [Null].

Specifying Numeric Values in Custom Attributes

Numeric value in custom attributes are supported as integers or floating-point values represented as text.

Specifying Time Values in Custom Attributes

For date-time values, the following formats are supported:

• ISO-8601 format with optional milliseconds (but no timezone): yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss[.SSS]
• Symphony's default API time format: yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.SSS, milliseconds required.

Unix time stamp format (seconds/milliseconds) is not supported for date-time values

The BETWEEN filter operator expects an array with two elements. When you use a time-value custom attribute as a filter variable for a filter using BETWEEN, two explicit elements must be specified (for example start_date and end_date). The dates can be specified as static date-time values, dynamic time patterns, or single-value user attributes. Specifications such as [${User.date_array}], with the date_array attribute containing two elements are not supported.