Developing applications

How to extend applications with personal attributes

If you are developing in ColdFusionMX on CCS webhosting then use the framework provided below. If you are on another platform please contact us for available options.

The attribute access framework provides access to user attributes, for example, name, email, department, affiliation, etc. It hides the implementation details and provides similar interface across platforms. Currently it is available for ColdFusionMX and Oracle APEX.

How to use it:

Step 1

The first step to join WAM@UoGuelph is to request a protected URL on the staging server (stage.web.uoguelph.ca) - email us the actual URL and a brief info about your application. 

Step 2 (Optional)

The second (optional) step is to modify the application and add calls to the WAM library to retrieve the user attributes. The library is located on files.web.uoguelph.ca in directory /stage/includes/IdS/wam_uofg.cfm

To include it place the following in your Application.cfm (or in individual pages if you make only few calls in a large application)

<cfinclude template="/includes/IdS/wam_uofg.cfm">

To get the user's attribute from WAM call the appropriate access function. For example, use following call to retrieve user's email 

#WAMGetEmail()#

For details see the source code for a demo application presentated at ITSIG in April 2008.

The following functions are currently available - for more details see the current implementation of the framework on files.web.uoguelph.ca : 

	function WAMGetFirstName() 
	function WAMGetLastName() 
	function WAMGetDisplayName() 
	function WAMGetCommonName()  
	function WAMGetOrganizationalUnit() 
	function WAMGetDepartmentNumber() 
	function WAMGetEmail() 
	function WAMGetPhone() 
	function WAMGetEmployeeNumber() 
	function WAMGetUofGStudentId()  
	function WAMGetUser() 
	function WAMGetUserRoles() 
	function WAMIsUserInRole(roleName) 
	function WAMGetOrganizationalStatus() 
	function WAMGetEPAffiliation() 
	function WAMGetEPPrimaryAffiliation() 
	function WAMGetEPScopedAffiliation()
	function WAMIsEPFaculty() 
	function WAMIsEPStaff() 
	function WAMIsEPStudent()
	function WAMIsEPEmployee()
	function WAMIsEPMember()
	function WAMIsEPAlum()
	function WAMIsEPAffiliate()
					

The recommended way of using the framework is to include it from the central location on files.web.uoguelph.ca The library is subject to update anytime so including a local version is not supported.