Unique Name

Fields

Attribute Name

Specify the name of attribute to check for uniqueness.

Scope

Specify the scope in which to check uniqueness. The options are subtree or subordinates.

Start Search

Select a starting point for the search. The starting point can be the root of the data store, or be specified by a DN or association.

Pattern

Specify patterns to use to generate unique values by using the Argument Builder.

Counters Use

Select when to use a counter. The options are:

• Always use a counter

• Never use a counter

• After all patterns failed without

Counters Pattern

Select which pattern to use the counter with. The options are:

• Only with first pattern

• Only with last pattern

• Use with all patterns

Start

The starting value of the counter.

Digits

Specify the width in digits of counter; the default is 1. The Pad counter with leading 0’s option prepends 0 to match the digit length. For example, with a digit width of 3, the initial unique value would be appended with 001, then 002, and so on.

If Cannot Construct Name

Select the action to take if a unique name cannot be constructed. The options are:

• Ignore, return empty

• Generate warning, return empty name

• Generate error, abort current transaction

• Generate fatal error, shutdown driver

Remarks

Each <arg-string> element provides a pattern to be used to create a proposed name.

A proposed name is tested by performing a query for that value in the name attribute against the destination data store using the <arg-dn> element or the <arg-association> element as the base of the query and scope as the scope of the query. If the destination data store is the Identity Vault and name is omitted, then a search is performed against the pseudo-attribute “[Entry].rdn”, which represents the RDN of an object without respect to what the naming attribute might be. If the destination data store is the application, then name is required.

A pattern can be tested with or without a counter as indicated by counter-use and counter-pattern. When a pattern is tested with a counter, the pattern is tested repeatedly with an appended counter until a name is found that does not return any instances or the counter is exhausted. The counter starting value is specified by counter-start and the counter maximum value is specified in terms of the maximum number of digits as specified by counter-digits. If the number of digits is less than those specified, then the counter is right-padded with zeros unless the counter-pad attribute is set to false. The counter is considered exhausted when the counter can no longer be represented by the specified number of digits.

As soon as a proposed name is determined to be unique, the testing of names is stopped and the unique name is returned.

The order of proposed names is tested as follows:

If all specified combinations of patterns and counters are exhausted, then the action specified by the on-unavailable is taken.

Example

The following is an example of the Editor pane when constructing the unique name argument:

The following pattern was constructed to provide unique names:

If this pattern does not generate a unique name, a digit is appended, incrementing up to the specified number of digits. In this example, nine additional unique names would be generated by the appended digit before an error occurs (pattern1 - pattern99).