Modifying Asset Type Details
To modify the details of a user-defined type, you must have the Manage Asset Types permission. Besides allowing you to modify user-defined types, this permission allows you to modify certain predefined types installed by CentraSite.
Note:
By default, users with the CentraSite Administrator role and Asset Type Administrator role have this permission.
Follow these general guidelines when modifying the details of an asset type definition:
You can modify the type's display name, description, icons and advanced options. You cannot modify the type's
Schema Name or its
Namespace property. These two properties are set when the type is created and cannot be changed thereafter.
With respect to attributes:
You can add new optional attributes to the type at any time.
You can add new required attributes if there are no existing instances of the type in the registry. If there are existing instances of a type, you can add a new required attribute of type
slot or
classification, but not of type
relationship or
file.
If you add a new attribute, regardless of whether it is optional or required, no automatic update of existing instances takes place. This prevents the potential degradation of performance that could arise from the automatic update of a large number of instances.
You cannot modify the data type for an attribute, but you can modify many of an attribute's other options. Be aware that certain attributes are not permitted if assigned (that is, non-empty) instances of the attribute are present in the registry.
You cannot delete an attribute from a type if an instance of the type exists with a value assigned to the attribute. In such a situation, you must first remove the attribute's value from each such instance before you can delete the attribute.
Note that the command line tool CentraSiteCommand provides support for removing an attribute, in cases where existing instances contain a value for the attribute.
A sub type inherits all of its attributes from its base type. To add new attributes to a sub type, do one of the following:
Add the attributes to profiles of the base type and inherit the profiles in sub type, OR
Clone the profiles of the base type and then add the attributes to the cloned profiles in sub type.
You can selectively display these attributes on the profiles that you have defined in or cloned from the base type.
You cannot delete attributes or edit the properties of attributes within the inherited profiles in the sub type. However, you can delete and edit attributes within cloned profiles in the sub type.
You can add, modify, delete, rename, and reorganize the profiles associated with a base type at any time.
You can modify, delete, rename, and reorganize the base type profiles associated with a sub type at any time, if the profiles are cloned from the base type.
You cannot modify, delete or rename the base type profiles associated with a sub type, if the profiles are inherited from the base type.
Modifying the cloned profiles and attributes in a sub type does not affect the profiles and attributes in the base type.
When recloning the base type profiles within a sub type, any new attribute that is added to the base type, and any attribute that is already deleted from the sub type but still available in the base type, is cloned in the sub type.
Recloning the base type profiles within a sub type does not affect the existing attributes in the sub type.
Beginning with version 9.9,
CentraSite provides the ability to define consumable asset types for an asset type. If you are upgrading to
CentraSite 9.9 from a version of
CentraSite that did not support the definition of consumable types,
CentraSite assigns each virtual asset type (Virtual Service, Virtual XML Service, Virtual REST Service, Virtual OData Service) a default consumable type definition for the User, Group, and Application asset types.
You cannot remove a consumable type from an asset type definition if an instance of the consumable type is already registered as consumer of an instance of the selected type. In such a situation, you must first unregister each such consuming instance before you can remove the consumable type.
You can add custom attributes to the User and Organization types that are installed with
CentraSite. The custom attributes enables you to include additional metadata about the organizations or users at your site. For example, if the organizations within your enterprise belong to specific affiliates, you might want the Organization object to include an attribute that identifies the affiliate to which an organization belongs. The custom attributes are displayed in the
Attributes profile of the Organization or User details page in the
CentraSite Control.
Important:
If you are modifying one of the predefined asset types installed with
CentraSite, review the information in
Introduction to Types before you begin. It explains the kinds of modifications that you can make to the predefined types.
If you are using
CentraSite in conjunction with other software products, for example, the products of the
webMethods Product Suite or a third-party product, those products can add their own asset types to
CentraSite. Be aware that
CentraSite treats these types as user-defined custom types, which can be modified by an administrator with the appropriate permissions (just like any other custom type). Modifying or deleting these types in
CentraSite can lead to inconsistencies or errors in the product that uses the type. For example, if you modify or delete a type that is used by the
webMethods Product Suite, components such as the
webMethods Integration Server may no longer be able to publish assets to
CentraSite. To prevent these types of errors,
do not modify or delete any asset type on which other Software AG components or third-party products depend.
To modify the details of an asset type
1. In CentraSite Control, go to Administration > Types.
2. In the Types tab, right-click a type whose details you want to modify, and then click Details.
3. In the Asset Type Details page, click the Edit button.
This opens the Edit Asset Type wizard.
4. In panel 1 of the Edit Asset Type wizard, examine or modify the type's basic information, and its advanced settings as required.
5. In panel 2 of the Edit Asset Type wizard, examine or modify the type's attribute information as required.
6. In panel 3 of the Edit Asset Type wizard, examine or modify the type's profile information as required.
7. In panel 4 of the Edit Asset Type wizard, select one or more generic profiles you want to display in the details page of an asset instance of this type.
8. In panel 5 of the Edit Asset Type wizard, rearrange the order in which you want to display the generic profiles in the details page of an asset instance of this type.
9. Click Finish to save the updated type definition.