How to: Read Settings for Rules Extensions

If your rules extension requires configuration information, you can store this information in an initialization file. We recommend that you use an XML file for storing configuration information. You should store this file in the extensions folder of the Forefront Identity Manager Synchronization Service (FIM Synchronization Service) installation folder. By storing your initialization files in the installation folder, you automatically save your initialization files in the FIM Synchronization Service database along with your rules extension assemblies.

This example assumes that your initialization file uses the following XML configuration file.

<rules-extension-properties>
<account-provisioning>
    <container>
        <root>DC=fabrikam,DC=com</root>
        <active-users>OU=People</active-users>
        <inactive-users>OU=People (inactive)</inactive-users>
        <groups>OU=Groups</groups>
    </container>
</account-provisioning>
<management-agents>
    <fabrikam-ad-ma>
        <mail-suffix>@fabrikam.com</mail-suffix>
    </fabrikam-ad-ma>
</management-agents>
</rules-extension-properties>

The following examples show how to read an initialization file. Note that you must make a reference to System.xml in this application.

Imports Microsoft.MetadirectoryServices
Imports System.Xml

Public Class HRGroupProvisioning
    Implements IMVSynchronization

    ' If the variables declared in the Initialize() method will be used by  
    ' other methods, then you will need to declare them at the start of the  
    ' application so that they can be used as global variables.
    ' Dim fabrikamUsersContainer As String
    ' Dim fabrikamInactiveUsersContainer As String
    ' Dim fabrikamGroupsContainer As String
    ' Dim fabrikamMailSuffix As String

    Public Sub Initialize() Implements IMVSynchronization.Initialize
        ' These  variables are initialized based on a xml configuration file.
        ' The values are read during the Initialize() method of the Rules Extension.
        Dim fabrikamUsersContainer As String
        Dim fabrikamInactiveUsersContainer As String
        Dim fabrikamGroupsContainer As String
        Dim fabrikamMailSuffix As String

        Try
            Const XML_CONFIG_FILE = "\rules-config.xml"

            Dim config As XmlDocument = New XmlDocument()
            Dim dir As String = Utils.ExtensionsDirectory
            config.Load(dir + XML_CONFIG_FILE)

            Dim rnode As XmlNode = config.SelectSingleNode("rules-extension-properties/account-provisioning/container")
            Dim node As XmlNode = rnode.SelectSingleNode("root")
            Dim rootContainer As String = node.InnerText
    
            ' The following will return "OU=People".            
            node = rnode.SelectSingleNode("active-users")
            fabrikamUsersContainer = node.InnerText + "," + rootContainer
  
            ' The following will connect to the inactive-users node and return "OU=People".            
            node = rnode.SelectSingleNode("inactive-users")
            fabrikamInactiveUsersContainer = node.InnerText + "," + rootContainer

            ' The following will connect to the groups node and return "OU=Groups".            
            node = rnode.SelectSingleNode("groups")
            fabrikamGroupsContainer = node.InnerText + "," + rootContainer

            rnode = config.SelectSingleNode("rules-extension-properties/management-agents/fabrikam-ad-ma")

            ' The following will connect to the groups node and return "@fabrikam.com".            
            node = rnode.SelectSingleNode("mail-suffix")
            fabrikamMailSuffix = node.InnerText
        Catch nre As NullReferenceException

            'If a tag does not exist in the xml, then the stopped-extension-dll 
            'error will be thrown.
            ' You could log the exception before rethrowing.
            throw nre

        Catch e As Exception

            ' You could log the exception before rethrowing.
            throw e

        End Try

    End Sub
End Class
using Microsoft.MetadirectoryServices;
using System.Xml;

public class HRGroupProvisioning : IMVSynchronization
{

    // If the variables declared in the Initialize() method will be used by  
    // other methods, then you will need to declare them at the start of the  
    // application so that they can be used as global variables.
    // string fabrikamUsersContainer;
    // string fabrikamInactiveUsersContainer;
    // string fabrikamGroupsContainer;
    // string fabrikamMailSuffix;

    void IMVSynchronization.Initialize ()
    {

        // These  variables are initialized based on a xml configuration file
        // The values are read during the Initialize() method of the Rules Extension.
        string fabrikamUsersContainer;
        string fabrikamInactiveUsersContainer;
        string fabrikamGroupsContainer;
        string fabrikamMailSuffix;

        try
        {
            const string XML_CONFIG_FILE = @"\rules-config.xml";
            XmlDocument config  = new XmlDocument();
            string dir = Utils.ExtensionsDirectory;
            config.Load(dir + XML_CONFIG_FILE);

            XmlNode rnode  = config.SelectSingleNode
                ("rules-extension-properties/account-provisioning/container");
            XmlNode node  = rnode.SelectSingleNode("root");
            string rootContainer  = node.InnerText;

            // The following will return "OU=People".
            node = rnode.SelectSingleNode("active-users");
            fabrikamUsersContainer = node.InnerText + "," + rootContainer;

            // The following will connect to the inactive-users node and return "OU=People".
            node = rnode.SelectSingleNode("inactive-users");
            fabrikamInactiveUsersContainer = node.InnerText + "," + rootContainer;

            // The following will connect to the groups node and return "OU=Groups".
            node = rnode.SelectSingleNode("groups");
            fabrikamGroupsContainer = node.InnerText + "," + rootContainer;

            rnode = config.SelectSingleNode("rules-extension-properties/management-agents/fabrikam-ad-ma");

            // The following will connect to the groups node and return "@fabrikam.com".
            node = rnode.SelectSingleNode("mail-suffix");
            fabrikamMailSuffix = node.InnerText;
        }
        catch(NullReferenceException nre)
        {

            // If a tag does not exist in the xml, then the stopped-extension-dll 
            // error will be thrown.
            // You could log the exception before rethrowing.
            throw;
        }
        catch (Exception e)
        {

            // You could log the exception before rethrowing.
            throw;
        }
    }
}

See Also

Concepts

Rules Extensions Examples
Using Rules Extensions