Adding a New Profile Definition

You use the Profiles resource to create new profile definitions. For example, the business manager may ask you to create a new profile definition to make additional data available from your Web site and Commerce Server Business Desk. You can create a profile definition that is automatically mapped to a data object. You can also create a profile definition that is not mapped to a data object. You use profile definitions to define the data that you collect about users who visit your Web site.

You can create custom attributes for a profile definition. For example, you can add a custom attribute called defaultParentURL that controls where profiles are stored in the underlying LDAP store. Custom attributes on profile properties are placeholders for storing application-specific information. These attribute/value pairs must be of the type string. Profile definition custom attributes are available only within the Profiles resource.

To add a new profile definition that is mapped to a data object

To add a new profile definition that is not mapped to a data object

To add a custom attribute to a profile definition

To add a new profile definition that is mapped to a data object

  1. Expand Commerce Server Manager, expand Global Resources, expand Profiles, expand Profile Catalog, expand Data Sources, expand the data source that contains the data object that you want to map the new profile definition with, expand Data Objects, right-click the data object the new profile definition will be mapped with, select New, and then click New Profile.

  2. In the New Profile Definition dialog box, do the following:

    Use this To do this
    Name Type a programmatic name for the new profile definition. The name can contain a maximum of 127 alphanumeric characters and the underscore (_) symbol. The name cannot contain spaces.
    Display Name Type the name you want displayed for the new profile definition. The display name can contain a maximum of 127 Unicode characters.
    Description Type a description for the new profile definition. The description can contain a maximum of 127 Unicode characters.
  3. To close the dialog box, click OK.

  4. Click Finish.

The new profile definition appears in the list of available profile definitions in Commerce Server Manager. The new profile definition contains the properties mapped to the data members of the data object from which you built the profile definition.

To add a profile definition that is not mapped to a data object

  1. Expand Commerce Server Manager, expand Profiles, expand Profile Catalog, right-click Profile Definitions, and then select New Profile.

  2. In the New Profile Definition dialog box, do the following:

    Use this To do this
    Name Type a programmatic name for the new profile definition. The name can contain a maximum of 127 alphanumeric characters and the underscore (_) symbol. The name cannot contain spaces.
    Display Name Type the name you want displayed for the new profile definition. The display name can contain a maximum of 127 Unicode characters.
    Description Type a description for the new profile definition. The description can contain a maximum of 127 Unicode characters.
  3. To close the dialog box, click OK.

  4. Click Finish.

The new profile definition appears in the list of available profile definitions in Commerce Server Manager. The new profile definition does not contain properties and is therefore not mapped to a data source. You must add properties to the new profile definition.

To add a custom attribute to a profile definition

  1. Expand Commerce Server Manager, expand Global Resources, expand Profiles, expand Profile Catalog, expand Profile Definitions, right-click the profile definition you want to add a custom attribute to, and then click Properties.

  2. In the Properties dialog box, on the Custom Attributes tab, click New to display the Custom Attribute dialog box.

  3. In the Custom Attribute dialog box, do the following:

    Use this To do this
    Name Type a programmatic name for the new attribute. The name can contain a maximum of 127 alphanumeric characters and the underscore (_) symbol. The name cannot contain spaces.
    Display Name Type the name you want displayed for the attribute. The display name can contain a maximum of 127 Unicode characters.
    Description Type a description for the attribute. The description can contain a maximum of 127 Unicode characters.
    Value Type the value of the attribute.
  4. Click OK.

  5. To return to Commerce Server Manager, click OK.

The profile definition is saved with the new custom attribute.

See Also

About the Profiles Resource

Adding a New Data Source

Adding Properties to Profile Definitions

Adding Site Terms

Managing Profile Definitions


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