Novell Doc: Identity Manager User Application: Administration Guide

20.2 Configuring the Search List portlet

To configure the Search List portlet, you’ll follow a set of steps like these:

Step	Task	Description
1	Define: The entities and attributes you will allow users to search How you will display the results list	You can use the predefined Directory Search action that gets installed with the Identity Manager user application as-is. You can modify it, or you can create your own. For more information, see Section 20.2.2, Setting Search List preferences.
2	Verify that the set of entities and attributes for searching are defined in the directory abstraction layer.	For more information, see Section 4.0, Configuring the Directory Abstraction Layer.
3	Determine how you want users to access the portlet.	Do you want users to launch this portlet from an existing or a new page? For more information about pages, see Section 7.0, Page Administration.
4	Set preferences for the portlet	Preferences for the search list portlet let you define: The attributes displayed for each results list format What results list display format a search will produce The default sort order for the results list formats For more information, see Section 20.2.2, Setting Search List preferences
5	Test your settings	Verify that the results lists show the desired attributes.
6	Set eDirectory rights and establish any indexes needed to enhance performance	eDirectory rights: To execute a search The user performing the search needs Browse rights to any users or objects being searched. To save a search (for non-Administrative users): Trustee of the organizational unit and the organization where they will be executing the search. User requires write, self, and supervisor rights.
6		Performance enhancement—The performance of the search can be improved by adding an eDirectory value index to the attribute on which the search is based.

For more information on defining different results list display formats, see Section 20.2.2, Setting Search List preferences.

20.2.1 Directory abstraction layer setup

The entities and attributes that can be selected from the search criteria dropdown and data returned from the identity vault searches must be defined in the directory abstraction layer. The following table shows the properties that you should set for the entities and attributes used by search list.

Definition type	Setting	Directory abstraction layer value
entity	view	Selected (true)
attribute	enable	Selected (true)
	search	Selected (true) When false, you cannot define a search on this attribute or include it in a results list format
	hide	Unselected (false) Any attribute where search is selected (true) must also have hide set to unselected (false) because the Search List portlet does not examine the value of the hide property during the search (because it hinders performance). Suppose that User1 sets the HomePhone attribute to hide=true (in eDirectory). HomePhone is searchable so Search List retrieves the record, but Search List does not examine the values of the other attributes (because it would impact performance). If another user searched on an exact match for the HomePhone attribute, the hidden record would be displayed in the results list.

Other Directory abstraction layer settings The directory abstraction layer data type, format type, filters, and search scope will also impact the Search List portlet. The data type and format type affect the appearance, the filter and search scope will affect how much data is returned.

For more information, see Section 4.3, Working with entities and attributes.

20.2.2 Setting Search List preferences

You define two types of preferences:

Search preferences

The search preferences are contained in a single preference page:

The search preferences are defined below:

Preference	What to do
Default Mode	Specify how you want the portlet to display when a user first accesses it. Values are: Basic Search—Allows users to enter a single search criteria. For example: First Name starts with A Advanced search—Allows users to define multiple search criteria in one or more search blocks. Users can use the and/or logical operators within the search criteria or among the search blocks. For example, users can create a search like this: (First Name starts with A or First Name starts with B) and (Region = Northeast or Region = Southeast) OR (First Name starts with A and Last Name starts with B) or (First Name starts with B and Last Name starts with A) My Saved Searches—Displays a list of searches saved by the currently logged in user. The searches are saved in the user’s srvprvQueryList attribute. NOTE:Users can access any of these modes at runtime by executing or editing a search or clicking a button at the bottom of the portlet.
Pagination	The maximum number of rows shown at a time.
Results Limit	The maximum number of matches returned by the search. If set to 0, then the maximum defers to the directory abstraction layer setting.
Search and List complex preference	Click to refine the: Entities to search Result set type Attributes to include in the pages and the order in which they appear By default, any object listed in the directory abstraction layer with the attribute view=true are included in the search. The entity’s attribute list is derived from the attributes listed in the directory abstraction layer and whose defined as enable=true.

Results List format preferences

The complex preferences page lets you define the entities to include in the search and how to format the results list. The default preferences page looks like this:

The complex preferences include:

Preference	What to do
Entity Definition	Each object that is valid for searching (view=true) has a corresponding Entity Definition block on this preferences page. Use these preferences to: Define the objects included in the search. Modify the results list format definitions (such as adding and removing the attributes that are displayed and their default sort order). Remove any objects that you do not want included in the search by clicking the delete button shown on the Entity Definition line. This deletes the entire entity definition block. You can add the object back to the search later by clicking Add Entity Definition (located at the bottom of the page) and completing the wizard selection panels. HINT:If an object does not appear in this list, but is listed in the directory abstraction layer, check the view modifier (on the entity object). If set to false then the entity cannot be used by the identity portlets.
Show email as Icon	When true and an Email attribute is specified in the results list, it will display as an icon. When false the Email attribute displays the full email address. The email attribute (whether text or icon) is a clickable mailto: link.
Results List Types (default)	Specifies the results list default format for the current entity. The default is used only when a different format is not selected by the current user.
Results List display format block	Specifies the display format (such as Identity, Location, or Organizational pages) and includes the set of attributes to include for the type. To remove a Results List Type: Click the delete button next to the Results List Type. This deletes the page type and all of its associated attributes from the search. To add a result set page: Click the expand button and select the result set format from the list of choices.
Attributes	Specifies the set of attributes that will be displayed for the particular display format. To add or remove an attribute: Click the modify attributes button. To add an attribute, select it (from the list of Available attributes). Click the arrow to move it to the Selected list. Do the reverse to remove an attribute from the Results List. To reorder the attributes list, click the up and down arrows to the right of the selected list. Click Submit. Attributes and data types—The attribute’s data type affects the way it is displayed. For example, if an attribute is defined as a sub-type of local list or global list then possible values are displayed in a dropdown list box in the Basic or Advanced Search Criteria screens. If the type is DN then a finder and history button are displayed to allow users to select a value in the Basic or Advanced Search Criteria screens, and the DN will be resolved to a user-friendly display in the results list. The data type and sub-type also restrict the comparison operator displayed for the user to ensure that only valid comparisons are constructed. For more information, see Section 4.0, Configuring the Directory Abstraction Layer.
Results List display format block Sort	The sort order for the Results List is based on this attribute. The default sort order only takes effect if the Result Set Type is not the display format for the current user session. Multi-valued attributes and single-valued attributes—The number of records displayed in a results list will vary depending on whether the sort attribute is single- or multi-valued. Sorting on multi-value attributes will generally appear to result in more records although the total number of matches remains the same. This is because each value of a multi-valued attribute is shown on a line by itself.

Completing the preferences panel

To verify that you’ve submitted valid entries, click Submit. If an entry is invalid, you’ll see an error message displayed at the top of the preferences page. Once you are able to resolve all of the errors, click Return to List View, then click Save Preferences.