Managing Profile Properties

  • Article

You can use the Profiles resource to change profile properties to update the data you want to collect from your Web site. For example, you create a profile definition with a property that you use to collect data about the states in which the users who visit your Web site live. When you view the data collected with that profile property, you discover that a property of the type string is not the best way to collect useful location data from your users. You use the profile designer screen to modify the attributes of the property so that it collects data that is more useful.

You can delete properties and property groups if you do not need them in a profile definition. For example, you add seven properties to a profile definition, and you find that you need only six of them on your Web site. When you delete a property group, all properties in that group are also deleted.

You can move properties and property groups up and down in the Properties list to improve organization. For example, you added three property groups to a property definition. You can move the existing properties up and down in the Properties list until they are in the property group you created for them.

You can edit or delete any custom attribute from a property. You can edit a custom attribute if you need to adjust the display name, description, or value of the attribute. If you delete a custom attribute by mistake, you must recreate it. You cannot recover a custom attribute after you delete it.

To change a profile property

To organize profile properties

To delete a property from a profile definition

To change a custom attribute of a profile property

To delete a custom attribute from a profile property

To change a profile property

  1. Expand Commerce Server Manager, expand Global Resources, expand Profiles, expand Profile Catalog, expand Profile Definitions, and then click the profile definition that contains the property you want to change.

  2. In the Properties list, expand the property group that contains the property you want to change, and then click the property you want to change.

    Or, click the property group you want to change.

  3. In the profile designer screen, in the Attributes section, do the following:

    Use this To do this
    Display Name Edit the name you want displayed in Commerce Server Business Desk. The display name can contain a maximum of 127 Unicode characters.
    Description Edit the description for the property. The description can contain a maximum of 127 Unicode characters.
    Type Select the property type. The default property type is string. The property type of this attribute must be the same type as the data member this attribute is mapped to.
    Type Reference Click the ellipsis [...] button to select the site term or profile you are adding to the property definition. This feature is only available if you have selected the type site term or profile.

  4. In the profile designer screen, in the Advanced Attributes section, click Active if you want this property to be available in Business Desk. Inactive properties are not displayed in Business Desk.

  5. In the Map to Data box, click the ellipsis [...] button to open the Data Source Picker dialog box, and then select the data member the property maps to.

  6. In the Data Source Picker dialog box, expand the data source that contains the data object that contains the data member with which you want to map the property.

  7. Expand the data object that contains the data member with which you want to map the property, and then select the data member.

  8. Click OK.

  9. In the profile designer screen, in the Advanced Attributes section, do the following:

    Use this To do this
    Key Type Select a key type from the drop-down list. Each profile definition requires a property that is a primary key and a property that is a join key, or a property that is a dual key (both primary and join).
    Required Specifies that this property is required on your Web site and in Business Desk. However, this attribute is not enforced by the Profiles resource. This attribute is read-only if you have selected a key type.
    Exported Select this option to specify that this property will be imported into the Commerce Server Data Warehouse. You can export only mapped properties. You cannot export properties that are multi-valued and of the type Boolean or properties of type binary, long string, or password.
    Defer Cache Select this option to specify that this property will not be loaded initially when the profile is retrieved, but will be loaded when this property is accessed.
    Multi-valued Select this option to enable the collection of multiple values that are associated with this property. This value is not available if you have selected a key type for the property.
    Searchable Select this option to designate that this property is indexed in the underlying data store and is available for searching through the Find By function.
    RDN Type the Relative Distinguished Name (RDN) for a directory store. Set this value if this property maps to an RDN attribute of an LDAP class in the underlying store.
    Hashing Key Select this option to indicate that this property will be used to distribute profile instances across multiple data source partitions. This property is read-only for non-partitioned data sources. You must query on this key to retrieve profiles.

  10. Click Apply.

  11. To save the profile definition, click Ee785142.save(en-US,CS.10).gifon the toolbar.

The profile definition is saved with the changes.

To organize profile properties

  1. Expand Commerce Server Manager, expand Global Resources, expand Profiles, expand Profile Catalog, expand Profile Definitions, and then click the profile definition that contains the properties you want to organize.

  2. In the Properties list, select the property or property group you want to move, and then use the Up and Down Arrow buttons to move the property or property group up or down in the list.

  3. To save the profile definition, click **Save **on the toolbar.

The profile definition is saved with the changes you made to the order of the property groups and properties.

To delete a property from a profile definition

  1. Expand Commerce Server Manager, expand Global Resources, expand Profiles, expand Profile Catalog, expand Profile Definitions, and then click the profile definition that you want to delete a property from.

  2. In the Properties list, select the property or property group you want to delete, and then click Remove.

  3. In the Delete confirmation dialog box, click OK.

  4. To save the profile definition, click on the toolbar.

The profile definition is saved. It no longer contains the property or property group that you deleted.

To change a custom attribute of a profile property

  1. Expand Commerce Server Manager, expand Global Resources, expand Profiles, expand Profile Catalog, expand Profile Definitions, and then click the profile definition that contains the property in which you want to change a custom attribute.

  2. In the Properties list, select the property that contains the custom attribute you want to change.

  3. In the profile designer screen, in the Custom Attributes section, click Edit.

  4. In the profile designer screen, in the Custom Attributes section, do the following:

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

  5. Click Accept, and then click Apply.

  6. To save the profile definition, click Save on the toolbar.

The profile definition is saved with the changes.

To delete a custom attribute from a profile property

  1. Expand Commerce Server Manager, expand Global Resources, expand Profiles, expand Profile Catalog, expand Profile Definitions, and then click the profile definition that contains the property you want to delete a custom attribute from.

  2. In the Properties list, select the property that contains the custom attribute you want to delete.

  3. In the profile designerscreen, in the Custom Attributes section, select the custom attribute you want to delete, and then click Remove.

    The custom attribute is deleted from the profile property.

  4. Click Apply.

  5. To save the profile definition, click Save on the toolbar.

The profile definition is saved with the changes.

Ee785142.caution(en-US,CS.10).gif Caution

  • You cannot recover a custom attribute after you delete it.

See Also

About the Profiles Resource

Adding Properties to Profile Definitions


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