The manifest.xml file

The manifest.xml file allows you to specify the following options:

Manifest file setttings

Option

Description
autoDataSyncVersion The version of the archive files. As new features are added to xMatters, the autoDataSyncVersion number is incremented. It is recommended to use the latest version of the ZipSync archive. See ZipSync mode Included Files for more information about ZipSync versions.

mirror

When selected ("Y"), system elements that are not specified in the uploaded DS_*.csv files (and that do not have a null external key) will be removed, except for Device names specified in the deviceNamesToIgnore option. Note that with the mirror option specified, any rows marked with ACTION=R (i.e., delete) will be ignored.

In general, it is recommended that mirroring is used, as it simplifies the synchronization process.

When not using the mirror option ("N"), only the actions specified in the uploaded DS_ tables will be performed. Note that any operations on Devices matching those specified by deviceNamesToIgnore will be ignored. Also, submitting blank CSVs (i.e., files with only column headers) when mirroring is not specified will not remove existing records.

deviceNamesToIgnore

Allows you to specify a list of Device names (separated by the pipe ("|") character) to exclude from add, update, and delete actions. For example, if you specify the Device names Home Phone|Work Phone, the synchronization process will not modify data for those Devices. This allows Users to augment or modify their Device information from within xMatters without having it later overwritten by DataSync.
ignoreDeviceOrderAndDelay

When set to "Y", xMatters does not synchronize the DEVICE_ORDER and DELAY fields of existing users (that is, users that have already been added to xMatters). This preserves any customizations they may have made to their device order and delay settings.  

 

When set to "Y", this setting does not apply to new users (that is, users who have not already been added to xMatters ). In this case, device order and delay settings are set according to how they are defined in the ZipSync data files. This enables you to provide a "template" for device order and delay settings for new users without later overwriting customizations they make in the xMatters user interface.

 

When set to "N", device order and delay settings of all users are overwritten by the values in the ZipSync data files each time a data synchronization is performed.
forceNewPasswordReset

When set to "Y" (or omitted from the manifest file), xMatters generates a random password for new users. New users must then use the Forgot Password workflow to log on to xMatters for the first time. Set this value to "N" to preserve the legacy algorithm for assigning new passwords.
preserveDeviceStatus

When set to “Y”, the incoming data sync will not update each user’s device status. When not specified (default) or set to “N”, the data sync overwrites device status with the values specified in the data sync.

The following represents sample content for the manifest.xml file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<!DOCTYPE properties SYSTEM "http://java.sun.com/dtd/properties.dtd">

<properties>

  <comment>Auto Data Sync manifest</comment>

 <entry key="autoDataSyncVersion">1.3</entry>

  <entry key="mirror">Y</entry>

  <entry key="deviceNamesToIgnore">Home Email|Home Phone</entry>

  <entry key="ignoreDeviceOrderAndDelay">N</entry>

  <entry key="forceNewPasswordReset">Y</entry>

</properties>

File Limitations

The manifest.xml file has the following limitations:

  • Total number of characters cannot exceed 4,000
  • Maximum number of device names specified in deviceNamesToIgnore cannot exceed 1,000
  • The following entries must be present in the file: autoDataSyncVersion, mirror , deviceNamesToIgnore, and ignoreDeviceOrderAndDelay.
Escaping values in string column values

In some cases it may be necessary to escape characters that appear in text strings. The following points summarize how to use escaping in the CSV files:

  • Field values can optionally have double-quotes around them.
  • If there is a double-quote within the value it can be escaped by enclosing it within two double-quotes ("").
  • Commas can be embedded in a field if the field's value is enclosed within double-quotes.

For example, assume the following value exists:

abc,d”e”fghi

 

You can escape the comma and existing quotation marks as follows:

“abc,d””e””afsd”