Foreign key references

Within an XML-formatted administrative data import file, it is common to have references between objects in the file. For example, a user object can reference the group of which it is a member. As the group definition is elsewhere in the XML file, or perhaps the definition exists elsewhere, the user definition refers to this group with a foreign key. The foreign key is the object’s public ID. For example, the XML file can contain:

<User publicID="demo_sample:100"> … </User>
…
<Group publicID="demo_sample:200">
  …
  <Users>
    <GroupUser>
    <User publicID="demo_sample:100" />
    …
  </GroupUser>
  </Users>
</Group>

In this example, the user demo_sample:100 is a member of group demo_sample:200.

It is possible to reference an item within a single XML file before you define the item. For example, you can refer to supervisor of a user before you define the supervisor in the file. This enables you to define all groups first.

PolicyCenter reports errors only if a referenced object still does not exist after reading the entire file.