Example: Swapping the Order of a Name

Attribute values that are staged in the connector space might need some data transformations before they are flowed into the metaverse. Rules extensions can do these data transformations during import attribute flow. For example, business rules may require that the displayName attribute be stored in the metaverse as the combination of the first and last name of the user. However, the connected data source may provide the data in this attribute with the last name before the first name. To swap these values, you can use a rules extension.

The following example shows how to swap the order of the names:

    Public Sub MapAttributesForImport(ByVal FlowRuleName As String, ByVal csentry As CSEntry, ByVal mventry As MVEntry) Implements IMASynchronization.MapAttributesForImport
        Select Case FlowRuleName
            Case "displayName"
                Try
                    mventry("fileAs").Value = SwapNames(csentry("displayName").StringValue)
                Catch e As AttributeNotPresentException
                    Console.WriteLine(e.ToString())
                Catch e As AttributeNotDefinedAsSourceException
                    Console.WriteLine(e.ToString())
                End Try
        End Select
    End Sub
    
    Function SwapNames(ByVal Input As String) As String
        Try
            Dim Elements() As String
            Dim Delimiters() As Char
    
            Delimiters = ",".ToCharArray
            Elements = Input.Split(Delimiters)
    
            ' Verify that the string contains one comma. Any more or any less and this 
            ' function will just return the original string.
            If Elements.Length <> 2 Then
                SwapNames = Input
                Exit Function
            End If
    
            Dim Output As String
    
            ' Get the first string after trimming off any whitespace.
            Output = Elements(1).Trim()
    
            ' Add the space and second string after trimming off any whitespace.
            Output += " " + Elements(0).Trim()
    
            SwapNames = Output
    
        Catch ex As Exception
            ' If anything goes wrong, just return the original string.
            SwapNames = Input
        End Try
    End Function

    void IMASynchronization.MapAttributesForImport( string FlowRuleName, CSEntry csentry, MVEntry mventry)
    {
        switch(FlowRuleName)
        {
            case "displayName":
            {
                try
                {
                    mventry["fileAs"].Value = SwapNames(csentry["displayName"].StringValue);
                }
                catch ( AttributeNotPresentException e)
                {
                    Console.WriteLine(e.ToString());
                }
                catch ( AttributeNotDefinedAsSourceException e)
                {
                    Console.WriteLine(e.ToString());
                }
                break;
            }
        }
    }
    public static string SwapNames(string Input)
    {
        try
        {
            string[] Elements;
            char[] Delimiters;
    
            Delimiters = ",".ToCharArray();
            Elements = Input.Split(Delimiters);
                    
            // Verify that the string contains one comma. Any more or any less and this 
            // function will just return the original string.
            if(Elements.Length != 2)
            {
                return Input;
            }    
        
            string Output;
    
            // Get the first string after trimming off any whitespace.
            Output = Elements[1].Trim();
    
            // Add the space and second string after trimming off any whitespace.
            Output += " " + Elements[0].Trim();
    
            return Output;
        }
        catch
        {
            // If anything goes wrong, just return the original string.
            return Input;
        }
    }

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Build date: 2/16/2009