Workflow Soluiton

Trying to do a bit of custom validation on a webform. When the "Continue" button is pressed, I pass info from a variable through the "GetUsersWithDetails" component for AD. At first I used the Project Properties for creds and upon clicking "Continue", My processing message appears and eventually gives me a blank IE page with "Done" in the status bar.

I then tried to enter the cred info at the component level (the same creds used previously) with the exception of the Authentication token. this time whether I choose the process variables of "AuthenticationToken" or "NSAuthenticationToken", I get an application error referencing the AD component. I set a path from the AD Error to an end component and then had it send me an email with the specific AD Error.

The error received is "A referral was returned from the server". I found another post on this from '09, but nothing was done on it.

Try using the Create Kerberos Authentication token to create an Auth Token with the proper credentials, then use that Auth Token.

For the user name, do not put any DOMAIN\ in fornt of it, just need the samAccountName

rob

Rob,
Thanks for the tip. Added the Create Auth Token and used it in the AD componenet. Get the same error.

So next question: What are you looking up in the get User details? The component required a user GUID, DN, or Summary info.

Also, for the  AD server name I have always used the FQDN of the server.

Is there any other error or information in the logs?

rob

I've fought with that component before.  You should be aware that it only supports the domain name in the AD DNS format.  You can't use the legacy domain format.  For example:

This won't work:  MYCOMPANY

This will work:  mycompany.org

The referal error message is returned for a variety of configuration mistakes.  You can do a Google search on the error message for some possible hints.  It's not a component created message, it's straight from the server.

As far as I could tell, it always ended up being related to the fact that the component's query to the AD server wasn't valid for the data held on that domain controller.  The starting container of the search could be wrong, the resource to find didn't exist.  Or you were asking it find a object located in a domain structure that didn't exist on that controller... (the legacy domain vs the AD DNS format.).

Ok, looks like its not a permissions/authentication/datatype issue. I am trying to search AD based on an emial address. When i have it pulling the email from info entered into the webform, the process craps out. When I hardcoded an email address in to the AD component in my validation model, however, it worked fine.

I set up a "copy data element" within my validation model that copies the data from the field on the web form to a new variable. I then used the new variable to do my search. When I ran again in debug, i get an error saying that the data we're trying to copy doesn't exist.

So, it appears that the variable is empty when its entered into the AD component. Any ideas?

Sure there are no spaces in or tabs in the emails address? You might want to TRIM the field (there is a TRIM component)  before searching for it just to make sure.

Also, I used the Get user List component first to get a list of a users that match the criteria (should only be one for email), then use the first GUID of the user to Get User Details.

In the GET USER LIST input tab, I select Set of Fields and UNCHECK Match All Citeria, the assign the email field the email variable.

If you want, we can do a GoTo Meeting and I can show you how I'm doing it. I have an entire webservice that looks up uers by either email, DOMAIN\SAMAccountName or EmployeeID.

email me direct if you like:

rob.moore@travelport.com

rob

Thanks Rob and scottwed for your help in this matter.

It looks like workflow just plain didn't like having an AD component in the validation that's done when the "Continue" button is pressed.

I created a similar model outside of the webform, which worked fine. I had to create a few more forms to display the validation errors i was trying ot show previously, but its actually more aesthetically pleasing this way.

Thanks again.

Jimbaland, are you sure the values passed to the AD component existed at the time you referenced them?

I can't think of a good example, but some combinations of form components and their embedded models will leave you in a state where the variable's value is not set until you exit the form.  To get around this, typically you can use the form.component's_output_variable variable instead of the standard component's_output_variable variable. 

To see if this might be happenning, there are a couple of different troubleshooting techniques you can do.

1. In the debugger interface, before launching an instance of the process, Choose the "Debug Into Embedded Models" option found in the bottom left pane.  During execution, the debugger will show you what's happening inside nearly all of those embedded models.  You can hover over the AD component to see those input variable's current content.
    
2. Or, you can use the Create Log Entry component to write the current values of your relevant variables to the Workflow Log file.  Be sure to increase the severity level in the component or lower the severity level filter on the Log Viewer.  I typically use a format like: "variable1:|myvar1|  variable2:|myvar2|  The pipe symbols allow you to easily spot a blank value.

Thanks for the tip Scottwed. Especially for the "Debug into Embedded Models".

That's actually exactly whats happening. The variable that i was passing into the AD component was empty causing it to crap out, even though text was entered and passed the required field validation. To test, I tried to copy the data to a new variable inside the validation model and got and error saying that the variable was empty. With the model after the form, all other things remaining the same, the desired results were achieved.

This information will be useful in future projects.

Thanks

I'm glad you were to able to identify the root cause.  For what it's worth, that may be a bug in the input component, but it really would need to be reviewed by Support to verify.  They will probably ask for a simplified version of the project that demonstrates the issue if you decide to open an incident.