Defining custom asset attributes

Repository administrators create the requirements for customizable asset information, called attributes that can be shared across asset types. Administrators can set custom attributes to require users to provide classification that fits a specific context.

Before you begin

You must be a repository administrator to create custom asset attributes.

About this task

Custom attributes are useful for describing the capabilities or characteristics of an asset.

Custom attributes can be uniquely searched on. For example, you could create an attribute Supported by which will allow users to search for all assets supported by a specific user.

You can create attributes with specific values. For example, if you know the support contact will be the same person for assets in a specific department you can include a set value for that attribute to save users time during asset submission.

Procedure

Log in to the web application.
Click Administration.
Click Asset Attributes from the Repository Administration sidebar.
Click New Attribute to create a new attribute in the repository.
From the Type list, select the appropriate data type of the attribute and click OK. You can select from the following attribute types:
- Text - Plain text; you can either let users type their own values or optionally define one or more values to choose from.
- Date - Date values; you can optionally define a minimum, maximum, or default date.
- User - Repository user values.
- Number - Numerical values; you can optionally define a minimum, maximum, or default value.
- Boolean - True or False; you can define a default value.
- Link - A URL value.
- XML - Extract the value of the attribute from the content of an XML file that is attached to the asset. Define file types that will include XML content, appropriate namespace mappings, and XPATH expressions to extract information from artifacts.
- Resource - Add links to one or more resources from an IBM® Jazz™ server such as IBM Rational® Team Concert. You must add a Jazz server as a friend server to use this attribute type. For more information, see Creating or linking to work items on IBM Jazz servers from assets and Integrating with Jazz servers
On the Attribute page, describe the new attribute.
1. In the Name field, type a name.
2. In the Description field, type a meaningful description. When a user submits a new asset using the Submit an Asset wizard, this description is displayed when the user clicks the help icon for this attribute's field on the Describe page.
3. Depending on the type of attribute, you can define additional rules for the attribute's values, such as minimums, maximums, predefined, or default values.
  If you are creating a new XML attribute:
  1. Upload a sample XML file that is representative of the XML files that you expect will be added as artifacts. You can upload only one XML file at a time.
  2. Click Add File Type and type a file extension for the XML files that contain content that you want to be used as attributes; for example, wsdl. Enter only one file extension at a time.
  3. To declare a namespace mapping, you can either click Add Namespace Mapping and type a prefix and URI manually (for example, wsdl and http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/, respectively), or you can click Add From Sample to have the namespace mappings automatically detected.
  4. In the XPATH Expression section, type an XPATH expression that defines what value will be set for the attribute; for example, //wsdl:portType. You can click Test Sample to see what value would be returned from the sample XML file that you uploaded.
Click OK.

What to do next

To remove an attribute click Delete on the Asset Attributes page.

To edit the name, description, or preset value for an attribute, click Edit.