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When you configure provisioning to a SaaS application, one of the types of attribute mappings that you can specify is an expression mapping. For these mappings, you must write a script-like expression that allows you to transform your users' data into formats that are more acceptable for the SaaS application.

Syntax overview

The syntax for Expressions for Attribute Mappings is reminiscent of Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) functions.

  • The entire expression must be defined in terms of functions, which consist of a name followed by arguments in parentheses: FunctionName( <<argument 1>> , <<argument N>> )

  • You may nest functions within each other. For example: FunctionOne(FunctionTwo( <<argument1>> ))

  • You can pass three different types of arguments into functions:

  • Attributes, which must be enclosed in square brackets. For example: [attributeName]
  • String constants, which must be enclosed in double quotes. For example: "United States"
  • Other Functions. For example: FunctionOne( <<argument1>> , FunctionTwo( <<argument2>> ))
  • For string constants, if you need a backslash ( \ ) or quotation mark ( " ) in the string, it must be escaped with the backslash ( \ ) symbol. For example: "Company name: \"Contoso\""

  • The syntax is case-sensitive, which must be considered while typing them as strings in a function vs copy pasting them directly from here.

    List of Functions

    Append AppRoleAssignmentsComplex BitAnd CBool CDate Coalesce ConvertToBase64 ConvertToUTF8Hex Count CStr DateAdd DateDiff DateFromNum FormatDateTime Guid IgnoreFlowIfNullOrEmpty IIF InStr IsNull IsNullOrEmpty IsPresent IsString Item Join Left Mid NormalizeDiacritics Not Now NumFromDate PCase RandomString Redact RemoveDuplicates Replace SelectUniqueValue SingleAppRoleAssignment Split StripSpaces Switch ToLower ToUpper Word

    Append

    Function: Append(source, suffix)

    Description: Takes a source string value and appends the suffix to the end of it.

    Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes

    Append constant suffix to user name

    Example: If you're using a Salesforce Sandbox, you might need to append another suffix to all your user names before synchronizing them.

    Expression: Append([userPrincipalName], ".test")

    Sample input/output:

  • INPUT : (userPrincipalName): "John.Doe@contoso.com"
  • OUTPUT : "John.Doe@contoso.com.test"
  • AppRoleAssignmentsComplex

    Function: AppRoleAssignmentsComplex([appRoleAssignments])

    Description: Used to provision multiple roles for a user. For detailed usage, see Tutorial - Customize user provisioning attribute-mappings for SaaS applications in Azure Active Directory .

    Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes BitAnd(value1, value2)

    Description: This function converts both parameters to the binary representation and sets a bit to:

  • 0 - if one or both of the corresponding bits in value1 and value2 are 0
  • 1 - if both of the corresponding bits are 1.
  • In other words, it returns 0 in all cases except when the corresponding bits of both parameters are 1.

    Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes

    Example: BitAnd(&HF, &HF7)

    11110111 AND 00000111 = 00000111 so BitAnd returns 7, the binary value of 00000111.

    CBool

    Function: CBool(Expression)

    Description: CBool returns a boolean based on the evaluated expression. If the expression evaluates to a non-zero value, then CBool returns True , else it returns False .

    Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes

    Example: CBool([attribute1] = [attribute2])
    Returns True if both attributes have the same value.

    CDate

    Function:
    CDate(expression)

    Description:
    The CDate function returns a UTC DateTime from a string. DateTime isn't a native attribute type but it can be used within date functions such as FormatDateTime and DateAdd .

    Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes

    Remarks:
    The returned string is always in UTC and follows the format M/d/yyyy h:mm:ss tt .

    Example 1:
    CDate([StatusHireDate])
    Sample input/output:

  • INPUT (StatusHireDate): "2020-03-16-07:00"
  • OUTPUT : "3/16/2020 7:00:00 AM" <-- Note that UTC equivalent of the above DateTime is returned
  • Example 2:
    CDate("2021-06-30+08:00")
    Sample input/output:

  • INPUT : "2021-06-30+08:00"
  • OUTPUT : "6/29/2021 4:00:00 PM" <-- Note that UTC equivalent of the above DateTime is returned
  • Example 3:
    CDate("2009-06-15T01:45:30-07:00")
    Sample input/output:

  • INPUT : "2009-06-15T01:45:30-07:00"
  • OUTPUT : "6/15/2009 8:45:30 AM" <-- Note that UTC equivalent of the above DateTime is returned
  • Coalesce

    Function: Coalesce(source1, source2, ..., defaultValue)

    Description: Returns the first source value that isn't NULL. If all arguments are NULL and defaultValue is present, the defaultValue will be returned. If all arguments are NULL and defaultValue isn't present, Coalesce returns NULL.

    Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes Required String Required, variable-number of times. Usually name of the attribute from the source object. defaultValue Optional String Default value to be used when all source values are NULL. Can be empty string ("").

    Flow mail value if not NULL, otherwise flow userPrincipalName

    Example: You wish to flow the mail attribute if it is present. If it isn't, you wish to flow the value of userPrincipalName instead.

    Expression: Coalesce([mail],[userPrincipalName])

    Sample input/output:

  • INPUT (mail): NULL
  • INPUT (userPrincipalName): "John.Doe@contoso.com"
  • OUTPUT : "John.Doe@contoso.com"
  • ConvertToBase64

    Function: ConvertToBase64(source)

    Description: The ConvertToBase64 function converts a string to a Unicode base64 string.

    Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes ConvertToUTF8Hex(source)

    Description: The ConvertToUTF8Hex function converts a string to a UTF8 Hex encoded value.

    Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes Count(attribute)

    Description: The Count function returns the number of elements in a multi-valued attribute

    Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes DateAdd(interval, value, dateTime)

    Description:
    Returns a date/time string representing a date to which a specified time interval has been added. The returned date is in the format: M/d/yyyy h:mm:ss tt .

    Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes Required Number The number of units you want to add. It can be positive (to get dates in the future) or negative (to get dates in the past). dateTime Required DateTime DateTime representing date to which the interval is added.

    When passing a date string as input, use CDate function to wrap the datetime string. To get system time in UTC, use the Now function.

    The interval string must have one of the following values:

  • yyyy Year
  • m Month
  • d Day
  • ww Week
  • h Hour
  • n Minute
  • s Second
  • Example 1: Generate a date value based on incoming StatusHireDate from Workday
    DateAdd("d", 7, CDate([StatusHireDate]))

    Example interval value dateTime (value of variable StatusHireDate) output DateDiff(interval, date1, date2)

    Description:
    This function uses the interval parameter to return a number that indicates the difference between the two input dates. It returns

  • a positive number if date2 > date1,
  • a negative number if date2 < date1,
  • 0 if date2 == date1
  • Parameters:

    Required/Optional Notes

    When passing a date string as input, use CDate function to wrap the datetime string. To get system time in UTC, use the Now function.

    The interval string must have one of the following values:

  • yyyy Year
  • m Month
  • d Day
  • ww Week
  • h Hour
  • n Minute
  • s Second
  • Example 1: Compare current date with hire date from Workday with different intervals
    DateDiff("d", Now(), CDate([StatusHireDate]))

    Example interval date1 date2 output

    Example 2: Combine DateDiff with IIF function to set attribute value
    If an account is Active in Workday, set the accountEnabled attribute of the user to True only if hire date is within the next five days.

    Switch([Active], , 
      "1", IIF(DateDiff("d", Now(), CDate([StatusHireDate])) > 5, "False", "True"), 
      "0", "False")
    

    DateFromNum

    Function: DateFromNum(value)

    Description: The DateFromNum function converts a value in AD's date format to a DateTime type.

    Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes DateFromNum([lastLogonTimestamp])

    DateFromNum(129699324000000000)

    Returns a DateTime representing January 1, 2012 at 11:00PM.

    FormatDateTime

    Function: FormatDateTime(source, dateTimeStyles, inputFormat, outputFormat)

    Description: Takes a date string from one format and converts it into a different format.

    Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes Optional String Use this parameter to specify the formatting options that customize string parsing for some date and time parsing methods. For supported values, see DateTimeStyles doc. If left empty, the default value used is DateTimeStyles.RoundtripKind, DateTimeStyles.AllowLeadingWhite, DateTimeStyles.AllowTrailingWhite inputFormat Required String Expected format of the source value. For supported formats, see .NET custom date and time format strings. outputFormat Required String Format of the output date.

    Output date as a string in a certain format

    Example: You want to send dates to a SaaS application like ServiceNow in a certain format. You can consider using the following expression.

    Expression:

    FormatDateTime([extensionAttribute1], , "yyyyMMddHHmmss.fZ", "yyyy-MM-dd")

    Sample input/output:

  • INPUT (extensionAttribute1): "20150123105347.1Z"
  • OUTPUT: "2015-01-23"
  • Function: Guid()

    Description: The function Guid generates a new random GUID

    Example:
    Guid()
    Sample output: "1088051a-cd4b-4288-84f8-e02042ca72bc"

    IgnoreFlowIfNullOrEmpty

    Function: IgnoreFlowIfNullOrEmpty(expression)

    Description: The IgnoreFlowIfNullOrEmpty function instructs the provisioning service to ignore the attribute and drop it from the flow if the enclosed function or attribute is NULL or empty.

    Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes

    Example 1: Don't flow an attribute if it is null
    IgnoreFlowIfNullOrEmpty([department])
    The above expression will drop the department attribute from the provisioning flow if it is null or empty.

    Example 2: Don't flow an attribute if the expression mapping evaluates to empty string or null
    Let's say the SuccessFactors attribute prefix is mapped to the on-premises Active Directory attribute personalTitle using the following expression mapping:
    IgnoreFlowIfNullOrEmpty(Switch([prefix], "", "3443", "Dr.", "3444", "Prof.", "3445", "Prof. Dr."))
    The above expression first evaluates the Switch function. If the prefix attribute doesn't have any of the values listed within the Switch function, then Switch will return an empty string and the attribute personalTitle will not be included in the provisioning flow to on-premises Active Directory.

    Function: IIF(condition,valueIfTrue,valueIfFalse)

    Description: The IIF function returns one of a set of possible values based on a specified condition.

    Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes Required Variable or Expression Any value or expression that can be evaluated to true or false. valueIfTrue Required Variable or String If the condition evaluates to true, the returned value. valueIfFalse Required Variable or String If the condition evaluates to false, the returned value.

    The following comparison operators can be used in the condition:

  • Equal to (=) and not equal to (<>)
  • Greater than (>) and greater than equal to (>=)
  • Less than (<) and less than equal to (<=)
  • Example: Set the target attribute value to source country attribute if country="USA", else set target attribute value to source department attribute. IIF([country]="USA",[country],[department])

    Known limitations and workarounds for IIF function

  • The IIF function currently doesn't support AND and OR logical operators.
  • To implement AND logic, use nested IIF statement chained along the trueValue path. Example: If country="USA" and state="CA", return value "True", else return "False". IIF([country]="USA",IIF([state]="CA","True","False"),"False")
  • To implement OR logic, use nested IIF statement chained along the falseValue path. Example: If country="USA" or state="CA", return value "True", else return "False". IIF([country]="USA","True",IIF([state]="CA","True","False"))
  • If the source attribute used within the IIF function is empty or null, the condition check fails.
  • Unsupported IIF expression examples:
  • IIF([country]="","Other",[country])
  • IIF(IsNullOrEmpty([country]),"Other",[country])
  • IIF(IsPresent([country]),[country],"Other")
  • Recommended workaround: Use the Switch function to check for empty/null values. Example: If country attribute is empty, set value "Other". If it is present, pass the country attribute value to target attribute.
  • Switch([country],[country],"","Other") InStr(value1, value2, start, compareType)

    Description: The InStr function finds the first occurrence of a substring in a string

    Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes InStr("The quick brown fox","quick")

    Evaluates to 5

    InStr("repEated","e",3,vbBinaryCompare)

    Evaluates to 7

    IsNull

    Function: IsNull(Expression)

    Description: If the expression evaluates to Null, then the IsNull function returns true. For an attribute, a Null is expressed by the absence of the attribute.

    Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes IsNullOrEmpty(Expression)

    Description: If the expression is null or an empty string, then the IsNullOrEmpty function returns true. For an attribute, this would evaluate to True if the attribute is absent or is present but is an empty string. The inverse of this function is named IsPresent.

    Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes

    Example: IsNullOrEmpty([displayName])

    Returns True if the attribute isn't present or is an empty string.

    IsPresent

    Function: IsPresent(Expression)

    Description: If the expression evaluates to a string that isn't Null and isn't empty, then the IsPresent function returns true. The inverse of this function is named IsNullOrEmpty.

    Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes

    Example: Switch(IsPresent([directManager]),[directManager], IsPresent([skiplevelManager]),[skiplevelManager], IsPresent([director]),[director])

    IsString

    Function: IsString(Expression)

    Description: If the expression can be evaluated to a string type, then the IsString function evaluates to True.

    Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes Item(attribute, index)

    Description: The Item function returns one item from a multi-valued string/attribute.

    Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes

    Example: Item([proxyAddresses], 1) returns the first item in the multi-valued attribute. Index 0 shouldn't be used.

    Function: Join(separator, source1, source2, …)

    Description: Join() is similar to Append(), except that it can combine multiple source string values into a single string, and each value will be separated by a separator string.

    If one of the source values is a multi-value attribute, then every value in that attribute will be joined together, separated by the separator value.

    Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes Required String String used to separate source values when they are concatenated into one string. Can be "" if no separator is required. source1 … sourceN Required, variable-number of times String String values to be joined together. Left(String, NumChars)

    Description: The Left function returns a specified number of characters from the left of a string. If numChars = 0, return empty string. If numChars < 0, return input string. If string is null, return empty string. If string contains fewer characters than the number specified in numChars, a string identical to string (that is, containing all characters in parameter 1) is returned.

    Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes Mid(source, start, length)

    Description: Returns a substring of the source value. A substring is a string that contains only some of the characters from the source string.

    Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes Required Integer Index in the source string where substring should start. First character in the string will have index of 1, second character will have index 2, and so on. length Required Integer Length of the substring. If length ends outside the source string, function will return substring from start index until end of source string. NormalizeDiacritics(source)

    Description: Requires one string argument. Returns the string, but with any diacritical characters replaced with equivalent non-diacritical characters. Typically used to convert first names and last names containing diacritical characters (accent marks) into legal values that can be used in various user identifiers such as user principal names, SAM account names, and email addresses.

    Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes ä, à, â, ã, å, á, ą, ă, ā, ā́, ā̀, ā̂, ā̃, ǟ, ā̈, ǡ, a̱, å̄ Ä, À, Â, Ã, Å, Á, Ą, Ă, Ā, Ā́, Ā̀, Ā̂, Ā̃, Ǟ, Ā̈, Ǡ, A̱, Å̄ ç, č, ć, c̄, c̱ Ç, Č, Ć, C̄, C̱ ď, d̄, ḏ Ď, D̄, Ḏ ë, è, é, ê, ę, ě, ė, ē, ḗ, ḕ, ē̂, ē̃, ê̄, e̱, ë̄, e̊̄ Ë, È, É, Ê, Ę, Ě, Ė, Ē, Ḗ, Ḕ, Ē̂, Ē̃, Ê̄, E̱, Ë̄, E̊̄ ğ, ḡ, g̱ Ğ, Ḡ, G̱ ï, î, ì, í, ı, ī, ī́, ī̀, ī̂, ī̃, i̱ Ï, Î, Ì, Í, İ, Ī, Ī́, Ī̀, Ī̂, Ī̃, I̱ ľ, ł, l̄, ḹ, ḻ Ł, Ľ, L̄, Ḹ, Ḻ ñ, ń, ň, n̄, ṉ Ñ, Ń, Ň, N̄, Ṉ ö, ò, ő, õ, ô, ó, ō, ṓ, ṑ, ō̂, ō̃, ȫ, ō̈, ǭ, ȭ, ȱ, o̱ Ö, Ò, Ő, Õ, Ô, Ó, Ō, Ṓ, Ṑ, Ō̂, Ō̃, Ȫ, Ō̈, Ǭ, Ȭ, Ȱ, O̱ ø, ø̄, œ̄ Ø, Ø̄, Œ̄ ř, r̄, ṟ, ṝ Ř, R̄, Ṟ, Ṝ ü, ù, û, ú, ů, ű, ū, ū́, ū̀, ū̂, ū̃, u̇̄, ǖ, ṻ, ṳ̄, u̱ Ü, Ù, Û, Ú, Ů, Ű, Ū, Ū́, Ū̀, Ū̂, Ū̃, U̇̄, Ǖ, Ṻ, Ṳ̄, U̱ ÿ, ý, ȳ, ȳ́, ȳ̀, ȳ̃, y̱ Ÿ, Ý, Ȳ, Ȳ́, Ȳ̀, Ȳ̃, Y̱ ź, ž, ż, z̄, ẕ Ź, Ž, Ż, Z̄, Ẕ

    Remove diacritics from a string

    Example: Replace characters containing accent marks with equivalent characters that don't contain accent marks.

    Expression: NormalizeDiacritics([givenName])

    Sample input/output:

  • INPUT (givenName): "Zoë"
  • OUTPUT: "Zoe"
  • Function: Not(source)

    Description: Flips the boolean value of the source. If source value is True, returns False. Otherwise, returns True.

    Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes Now()

    Description:
    The Now function returns a string representing the current UTC DateTime in the format M/d/yyyy h:mm:ss tt.

    Example: Now()
    Example value returned 7/2/2021 3:33:38 PM

    NumFromDate

    Function: NumFromDate(value)

    Description: The NumFromDate function converts a DateTime value to Active Directory format that is required to set attributes like accountExpires. Use this function to convert DateTime values received from cloud HR apps like Workday and SuccessFactors to their equivalent AD representation.

    Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes
  • Workday example Assuming you want to map the attribute ContractEndDate from Workday, which is in the format 2020-12-31-08:00 to accountExpires field in AD, here is how you can use this function and change the timezone offset to match your locale. NumFromDate(Join("", FormatDateTime([ContractEndDate], ,"yyyy-MM-ddzzz", "yyyy-MM-dd"), " 23:59:59-08:00"))

  • SuccessFactors example Assuming you want to map the attribute endDate from SuccessFactors, which is in the format M/d/yyyy hh:mm:ss tt to accountExpires field in AD, here is how you can use this function and change the time zone offset to match your locale. NumFromDate(Join("",FormatDateTime([endDate], ,"M/d/yyyy hh:mm:ss tt","yyyy-MM-dd")," 23:59:59-08:00"))

    PCase

    Function: PCase(source, wordSeparators)

    Description: The PCase function converts the first character of each word in a string to upper case, and all other characters are converted to lower case.

    Parameters:

    Required/Optional Notes

    Remarks:

  • If the wordSeparators parameter isn't specified, then PCase internally invokes the .NET function ToTitleCase to convert the source string to proper case. The .NET function ToTitleCase supports a comprehensive set of the Unicode character categories as word separators.
  • Space character
  • New line character
  • Control characters like CRLF
  • Format control characters
  • ConnectorPunctuation characters like underscore
  • DashPunctuation characters like dash and hyphen (including characters such En Dash, Em Dash, double hyphen, etc.)
  • OpenPunctuation and ClosePunctuation characters that occur in pairs like parenthesis, curly bracket, angle bracket, etc.
  • InitialQuotePunctuation and FinalQuotePunctuation characters like single quotes, double quotes and angular quotes.
  • OtherPunctuation characters like exclamation mark, number sign, percent sign, ampersand, asterisk, comma, full stop, colon, semi-colon, etc.
  • MathSymbol characters like plus sign, less-than and greater-than sign, vertical line, tilde, equals sign, etc.
  • CurrencySymbol characters like dollar sign, cent sign, pound sign, euro sign, etc.
  • ModifierSymbol characters like macron, accents, arrow heads, etc.
  • OtherSymbol characters like copyright sign, degree sign, registered sign, etc.
  • If the wordSeparators parameter is specified, then PCase only uses the characters specified as word separators.
  • Example:

    Let's say you're sourcing the attributes firstName and lastName from SAP SuccessFactors and in HR both these attributes are in upper-case. Using the PCase function, you can convert the name to proper case as shown below.

    Expression Input Output Notes firstName = "PABLO GONSALVES (SECOND)" "Pablo Gonsalves (Second)" As the wordSeparators parameter isn't specified, the PCase function uses the default word separators character set. PCase([lastName]," '-") lastName = "PINTO-DE'SILVA" "Pinto-De'Silva" The PCase function uses characters in the wordSeparators parameter to identify words and transform them to proper case. PCase(Join(" ",[firstName],[lastName])) firstName = GREGORY, lastName = "JAMES" "Gregory James" You can nest the Join function within PCase. As the wordSeparators parameter isn't specified, the PCase function uses the default word separators character set.

    RandomString

    Function: RandomString(Length, MinimumNumbers, MinimumSpecialCharacters, MinimumCapital, MinimumLowerCase, CharactersToAvoid)

    Description: The RandomString function generates a random string based on the conditions specified. Characters allowed can be identified here.

    Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes Required Number Total length of the random string. This should be greater than or equal to the sum of MinimumNumbers, MinimumSpecialCharacters, and MinimumCapital. 256 characters max. MinimumNumbers Required Number Minimum numbers in the random string. MinimumSpecialCharacters Required Number Minimum number of special characters. MinimumCapital Required Number Minimum number of capital letters in the random string. MinimumLowerCase Required Number Minimum number of lower case letters in the random string. CharactersToAvoid Optional String Characters to be excluded when generating the random string.

    Example 1: - Generate a random string without special character restrictions: RandomString(6,3,0,0,3) Generates a random string with 6 characters. The string contains 3 numbers and 3 lower case characters (1a73qt).

    Example 2: - Generate a random string with special character restrictions: RandomString(10,2,2,2,1,"?,") Generates a random string with 10 characters. The string contains at least 2 numbers, 2 special characters, 2 capital letters, 1 lower case letter and excludes the characters "?" and "," (1@!2BaRg53).

    Redact

    Function: Redact()

    Description: The Redact function replaces the attribute value with the string literal "[Redact]" in the provisioning logs.

    Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes

    Example 1: Redact an attribute: Redact([userPrincipalName]) Removes the userPrincipalName from the provisioning logs.

    Example 2: Redact a string: Redact("StringToBeRedacted") Removes a constant string from the provisioning logs.

    Example 3: Redact a random string: Redact(RandomString(6,3,0,0,3)) Removes the random string from the provisioning logs.

    RemoveDuplicates

    Function: RemoveDuplicates(attribute)

    Description: The RemoveDuplicates function takes a multi-valued string and make sure each value is unique.

    Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes

    Example: RemoveDuplicates([proxyAddresses]) Returns a sanitized proxyAddress attribute where all duplicate values have been removed.

    Replace

    Function: Replace(source, oldValue, regexPattern, regexGroupName, replacementValue, replacementAttributeName, template)

    Description: Replaces values within a string in a case-sensitive manner. The function behaves differently depending on the parameters provided:

  • When oldValue and replacementValue are provided:

  • Replaces all occurrences of oldValue in the source with replacementValue
  • When oldValue and template are provided:

  • Replaces all occurrences of the oldValue in the template with the source value
  • When regexPattern and replacementValue are provided:

  • The function applies the regexPattern to the source string and you can use the regex group names to construct the string for replacementValue
  • To learn more about regex grouping constructs and named sub-expressions, see Grouping Constructs in Regular Expressions.

  • When regexPattern, regexGroupName, replacementValue are provided:

  • The function applies the regexPattern to the source string and replaces all values matching regexGroupName with replacementValue
  • When regexPattern, regexGroupName, replacementAttributeName are provided:

  • If source has a value, source is returned
  • If source has no value, the function applies the regexPattern to the replacementAttributeName and returns the value matching regexGroupName
  • Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes Optional String Regex pattern for the value to be replaced in source. When replacementAttributeName is used, the regexPattern is applied to extract a value from replacementAttributeName. regexGroupName Optional String Name of the group inside regexPattern. When named replacementAttributeName is used, we will extract the value of the named regex group from the replacementAttributeName and return it as the replacement value. replacementValue Optional String New value to replace old one with. replacementAttributeName Optional String Name of the attribute to be used for replacement value template Optional String When template value is provided, we will look for oldValue inside the template and replace it with source value.

    Replace characters using a regular expression

    Example 1: Using oldValue and replacementValue to replace the entire source string with another string.

    Let's say your HR system has an attribute BusinessTitle. As part of recent job title changes, your company wants to update anyone with the business title "Product Developer" to "Software Engineer". Then in this case, you can use the following expression in your attribute mapping.

    Replace([BusinessTitle],"Product Developer", , , "Software Engineer", , )

  • source: [BusinessTitle]
  • oldValue: "Product Developer"
  • replacementValue: "Software Engineer"
  • Expression output: Software Engineer
  • Example 2: Using oldValue and template to insert the source string into another templatized string.

    The parameter oldValue is a misnomer in this scenario. It is actually the value that will get replaced.
    Let's say you want to always generate login ID in the format <username>@contoso.com. There is a source attribute called UserID and you want that value to be used for the <username> portion of the login ID. Then in this case, you can use the following expression in your attribute mapping.

    Replace([UserID],"<username>", , , , , "<username>@contoso.com")

  • source: [UserID] = "jsmith"
  • oldValue: "<username>"
  • template: "<username>@contoso.com"
  • Expression output: "jsmith@contoso.com"
  • Example 3: Using regexPattern and replacementValue to extract a portion of the source string and replace it with an empty string or a custom value built using regex patterns or regex group names.

    Let's say you have a source attribute telephoneNumber that has components country code and phone number separated by a space character. For example, +91 9998887777 Then in this case, you can use the following expression in your attribute mapping to extract the 10 digit phone number.

    Replace([telephoneNumber], , "\\+(?<isdCode>\\d* )(?<phoneNumber>\\d{10})", , "${phoneNumber}", , )

  • source: [telephoneNumber] = "+91 9998887777"
  • regexPattern: "\\+(?<isdCode>\\d* )(?<phoneNumber>\\d{10})"
  • replacementValue: "${phoneNumber}"
  • Expression output: 9998887777
  • You can also use this pattern to remove characters and collapse a string. For example, the expression below removes parenthesis, dashes and space characters in the mobile number string and returns only digits.

    Replace([mobile], , "[()\\s-]+", , "", , )

  • source: [mobile] = "+1 (999) 888-7777"
  • regexPattern: "[()\\s-]+"
  • replacementValue: "" (empty string)
  • Expression output: 19998887777
  • Example 4: Using regexPattern, regexGroupName and replacementValue to extract a portion of the source string and replace it with another literal value or empty string.

    Let's say your source system has an attribute AddressLineData with two components street number and street name. As part of a recent move, let's say the street number of the address changed, and you want to update only the street number portion of the address line. Then in this case, you can use the following expression in your attribute mapping to extract the street number.

    Replace([AddressLineData], ,"(?<streetNumber>^\\d*)","streetNumber", "888", , )

  • source: [AddressLineData] = "545 Tremont Street"
  • regexPattern: "(?<streetNumber>^\\d*)"
  • regexGroupName: "streetNumber"
  • replacementValue: "888"
  • Expression output: 888 Tremont Street
  • Here is another example where the domain suffix from a UPN is replaced with an empty string to generate login ID without domain suffix.

    Replace([userPrincipalName], , "(?<Suffix>@(.)*)", "Suffix", "", , )

  • source: [userPrincipalName] = "jsmith@contoso.com"
  • regexPattern: "(?<Suffix>@(.)*)"
  • regexGroupName: "Suffix"
  • replacementValue: "" (empty string)
  • Expression output: jsmith
  • Example 5: Using regexPattern, regexGroupName and replacementAttributeName to handle scenarios when the source attribute is empty or doesn't have a value.

    Let's say your source system has an attribute telephoneNumber. If telephoneNumber is empty, you want to extract the 10 digits of the mobile number attribute. Then in this case, you can use the following expression in your attribute mapping.

    Replace([telephoneNumber], , "\\+(?<isdCode>\\d* )(?<phoneNumber>\\d{10})", "phoneNumber" , , [mobile], )

  • source: [telephoneNumber] = "" (empty string)
  • regexPattern: "\\+(?<isdCode>\\d* )(?<phoneNumber>\\d{10})"
  • regexGroupName: "phoneNumber"
  • replacementAttributeName: [mobile] = "+91 8887779999"
  • Expression output: 8887779999
  • Example 6: You need to find characters that match a regular expression value and remove them.

    Replace([mailNickname], , "[a-zA-Z_]*", , "", , )

  • source [mailNickname]
  • oldValue: "john_doe72"
  • replaceValue: ""
  • Expression output: 72
  • SelectUniqueValue

    Function: SelectUniqueValue(uniqueValueRule1, uniqueValueRule2, uniqueValueRule3, …)

    Description: Requires a minimum of two arguments, which are unique value generation rules defined using expressions. The function evaluates each rule and then checks the value generated for uniqueness in the target app/directory. The first unique value found will be the one returned. If all of the values already exist in the target, the entry will get escrowed, and the reason gets logged in the audit logs. There is no upper bound to the number of arguments that can be provided.

  • This function must be at the top-level and cannot be nested.
  • This function cannot be applied to attributes that have a matching precedence.
  • This function is only meant to be used for entry creations. When using it with an attribute, set the Apply Mapping property to Only during object creation.
  • This function is currently only supported for "Workday to Active Directory User Provisioning" and "SuccessFactors to Active Directory User Provisioning". It cannot be used with other provisioning applications.
  • The LDAP search that SelectUniqueValue function performs in on-premises Active Directory doesn't escape special characters like diacritics. If you pass a string like "Jéssica Smith" that contains a special character, you will encounter processing errors. Nest the NormalizeDiacritics function as shown in the example below to normalize special characters.
  • Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes

    Generate unique value for userPrincipalName (UPN) attribute

    Example: Based on the user's first name, middle name and last name, you need to generate a value for the UPN attribute and check for its uniqueness in the target AD directory before assigning the value to the UPN attribute.

    Expression:

        SelectUniqueValue( 
            Join("@", NormalizeDiacritics(StripSpaces(Join(".",  [PreferredFirstName], [PreferredLastName]))), "contoso.com"), 
            Join("@", NormalizeDiacritics(StripSpaces(Join(".",  Mid([PreferredFirstName], 1, 1), [PreferredLastName]))), "contoso.com"),
            Join("@", NormalizeDiacritics(StripSpaces(Join(".",  Mid([PreferredFirstName], 1, 2), [PreferredLastName]))), "contoso.com")
    

    Sample input/output:

  • INPUT (PreferredFirstName): "John"
  • INPUT (PreferredLastName): "Smith"
  • OUTPUT: "John.Smith@contoso.com" if UPN value of John.Smith@contoso.com doesn't already exist in the directory
  • OUTPUT: "J.Smith@contoso.com" if UPN value of John.Smith@contoso.com already exists in the directory
  • OUTPUT: "Jo.Smith@contoso.com" if the above two UPN values already exist in the directory
  • SingleAppRoleAssignment

    Function: SingleAppRoleAssignment([appRoleAssignments])

    Description: Returns a single appRoleAssignment from the list of all appRoleAssignments assigned to a user for a given application. This function is required to convert the appRoleAssignments object into a single role name string. The best practice is to ensure only one appRoleAssignment is assigned to one user at a time. This function isn't supported in scenarios where users have multiple app role assignments.

    Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes Split(source, delimiter)

    Description: Splits a string into a multi-valued array, using the specified delimiter character.

    Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes

    Split a string into a multi-valued array

    Example: You need to take a comma-delimited list of strings, and split them into an array that can be plugged into a multi-value attribute like Salesforce's PermissionSets attribute. In this example, a list of permission sets has been populated in extensionAttribute5 in Azure AD.

    Expression: Split([extensionAttribute5], ",")

    Sample input/output:

  • INPUT (extensionAttribute5): "PermissionSetOne, PermissionSetTwo"
  • OUTPUT: ["PermissionSetOne", "PermissionSetTwo"]
  • StripSpaces

    Function: StripSpaces(source)

    Description: Removes all space (" ") characters from the source string.

    Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes Switch(source, defaultValue, key1, value1, key2, value2, …)

    Description: When source value matches a key, returns value for that key. If source value doesn't match any keys, returns defaultValue. Key and value parameters must always come in pairs. The function always expects an even number of parameters. The function shouldn't be used for referential attributes such as manager.

    Switch function performs a case-sensitive string comparison of the source and key values. If you'd like to perform a case-insensitive comparison, normalize the source string before comparison using a nested ToLower function and ensure that all key strings use lowercase. Example: Switch(ToLower([statusFlag]), "0", "true", "1", "false", "0"). In this example, the source attribute statusFlag may have values ("True" / "true" / "TRUE"). However, the Switch function will always convert it to lowercase string "true" before comparison with key parameters.

    Caution

    For the source parameter, do not use the nested functions IsPresent, IsNull or IsNullOrEmpty. Instead use a literal empty string as one of the key values.
    Example: Switch([statusFlag], "Default Value", "true", "1", "", "0"). In this example, if the source attribute statusFlag is empty, the Switch function will return the value 0.

    Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes Optional String Default value to be used when source doesn't match any keys. Can be empty string (""). Required String Key to compare source value with. value Required String Replacement value for the source matching the key.

    Replace a value based on predefined set of options

    Example: Define the time zone of the user based on the state code stored in Azure AD. If the state code doesn't match any of the predefined options, use default value of "Australia/Sydney".

    Expression: Switch([state], "Australia/Sydney", "NSW", "Australia/Sydney","QLD", "Australia/Brisbane", "SA", "Australia/Adelaide")

    Sample input/output:

  • INPUT (state): "QLD"
  • OUTPUT: "Australia/Brisbane"
  • ToLower

    Function: ToLower(source, culture)

    Description: Takes a source string value and converts it to lower case using the culture rules that are specified. If there is no culture info specified, then it will use Invariant culture.

    If you would like to set existing values in the target system to lower case, update the schema for your target application and set the property caseExact to 'true' for the attribute that you're interested in.

    Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes Optional String The format for the culture name based on RFC 4646 is languagecode2-country/regioncode2, where languagecode2 is the two-letter language code and country/regioncode2 is the two-letter subculture code. Examples include ja-JP for Japanese (Japan) and en-US for English (United States). In cases where a two-letter language code isn't available, a three-letter code derived from ISO 639-2 is used.

    Convert generated userPrincipalName (UPN) value to lower case

    Example: You would like to generate the UPN value by concatenating the PreferredFirstName and PreferredLastName source fields and converting all characters to lower case.

    ToLower(Join("@", NormalizeDiacritics(StripSpaces(Join(".", [PreferredFirstName], [PreferredLastName]))), "contoso.com"))

    Sample input/output:

  • INPUT (PreferredFirstName): "John"
  • INPUT (PreferredLastName): "Smith"
  • OUTPUT: "john.smith@contoso.com"
  • ToUpper

    Function: ToUpper(source, culture)

    Description: Takes a source string value and converts it to upper case using the culture rules that are specified. If there is no culture info specified, then it will use Invariant culture.

    If you would like to set existing values in the target system to upper case, update the schema for your target application and set the property caseExact to 'true' for the attribute that you're interested in.

    Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes Optional String The format for the culture name based on RFC 4646 is languagecode2-country/regioncode2, where languagecode2 is the two-letter language code and country/regioncode2 is the two-letter subculture code. Examples include ja-JP for Japanese (Japan) and en-US for English (United States). In cases where a two-letter language code isn't available, a three-letter code derived from ISO 639-2 is used. Word(String,WordNumber,Delimiters)

    Description: The Word function returns a word contained within a string, based on parameters describing the delimiters to use and the word number to return. Each string of characters in string separated by the one of the characters in delimiters are identified as words:

    If number < 1, returns empty string. If string is null, returns empty string. If string contains less than number words, or string doesn't contain any words identified by delimiters, an empty string is returned.

    Parameters:

    Required/ Repeating Notes Word("The quick brown fox",3," ")

    Returns "brown".

    Word("This,string!has&many separators",3,",!&#")

    Returns "has".

    Examples

    This section provides more expression function usage examples.

    Strip known domain name

    Strip a known domain name from a user's email to obtain a user name. For example, if the domain is "contoso.com", then you could use the following expression:

    Expression: Replace([mail], "@contoso.com", , ,"", ,)

    Sample input / output:

  • INPUT (mail): "john.doe@contoso.com"
  • OUTPUT: "john.doe"
  • Generate user alias by concatenating parts of first and last name

    Generate a user alias by taking first three letters of user's first name and first five letters of user's last name.

    Expression: Append(Mid([givenName], 1, 3), Mid([surname], 1, 5))

    Sample input/output:

  • INPUT (givenName): "John"
  • INPUT (surname): "Doe"
  • OUTPUT: "JohDoe"
  • Add a comma between last name and first name.

    Add a comma between last name and first name.

    Expression: Join(", ", "", [surname], [givenName])

    Sample input/output:

  • INPUT (givenName): "John"
  • INPUT (surname): "Doe"
  • OUTPUT: "Doe, John"
  • Automate User Provisioning/Deprovisioning to SaaS Apps
  • Customizing Attribute Mappings for User Provisioning
  • Scoping Filters for User Provisioning
  • Using SCIM to enable automatic provisioning of users and groups from Azure Active Directory to applications
  • Account Provisioning Notifications
  • List of Tutorials on How to Integrate SaaS Apps
  •