Configuring a property to log events

You can audit changes to a specific property of a class for the following purposes: to reduce the size of the audit log and to allow audit processing clients to retrieve the more relevant audit information only. The alternative to logging changes for a specific property is to log an entire object snapshot. (A snapshot includes all properties for the object and is logged before and after any object changes.)

Before you begin

The class of the audited property must be configured for auditing.

About this task

When you configure an event class to audit a specific property, the audit log database table is extended with a column that corresponds to the property. When an audited event is fired on the source object, an instance of the event is stored in the audit log. The value of the audited property is copied from the source object to the applicable column.

Procedure

To audit a new or existing property (henceforth known as the target property):

  1. Creating a property template. If a custom property template does not exist for the target property, create it. (This step applies regardless of whether the target property is a custom or system property.)
    For a system property, ensure that the following items for the property and the property template are aligned:
    • The single-valued or multi-valued attribute is the same.
    • The data type is compatible in accordance with the following table:
      Table 1. Compatible data types
      System property Property template
      Binary Binary
      Boolean Boolean, String
      DateTime DateTime, String
      Float Float, String
      ID ID, String
      Integer Integer, String
      Object Object, String, ID
      String String
    Tip: To minimize the number of audit log columns, use the same template across classes. For example, you might use a template for an ObjectName property to audit the following properties:
    • The document title for the Document class.
    • The folder name for the Folder class.
  2. Assigning properties to a class. Using the custom property template, assign the target property to an event of the ObjectChangeEvent class or one of its subclasses. The ObjectChangeEvent class is located in the Other Classes > Event folder.
    To audit the target property for all events, add the property to the ObjectChangeEvent class. To audit the property only on some events, add the property to the appropriate subclass such as for the creation, update, and deletion events.
    Tip: If the target custom property is of data type object, carefully review the additional required steps in the topic Assigning properties to a class to avoid the error "FNRCE0058E: E_REQUIRED_VALUE_ABSENT: A required property value has not been set. Required property RequiredClassId is missing."
  3. Assigning properties to a class. If the target property is a custom property, assign the target property to a class that you want to audit.
  4. Opening and saving property definition for a dependent class property. Open the property definition for the target property.
  5. On the property definition tab, set the Audit As property to the custom property template that you assigned to the event class.
  6. Opening and saving property definition for a dependent class property. Save your changes.