How to use Regular Expression (Regex) to enforce attribute format in typical scenarios

Summary: There are cases when you need users to provide attribute values in a certain format. The attribute format can be enforced with Cayosoft Administrator Attribute Policy through the Mask setting. The mask is a regular expression that determines how the data must be entered by the user.

Applies to: Cayosoft Administrator 5.2 or later.

ID: KB20180704-1 

In this article: 

How to enforce Office Phone attribute format with mask

In this example, we will configure the Attribute Policy that defines the user office phone format as +1 1234567890

1. Open the Cayosoft Administrator console

2. Navigate to Home > Configuration > Web Portal > Attribute Policies

3. Click the button Add Attribute Policy in the upper right corner

4. Enter the name of the new policy, then expand the Policy Details

5. Click Add in the Policy Scope section

6. In the Specify Policy Scope dialog, select Active Directory in the first column "Admin Units" - see Picture 1 below

7. Select AD Users in the second column "Web Queries"

8. Select Properties in the third column "Web Actions"

9. Click OK

10. Click the newly created scope to select it

11. Search for Office Phone attribute

12. Select it in the list

13. Click Edit Policy - see Picture 2 below

14. Select Mask check box:

    • Provide Mask value: \+1\s[0-9]{10}\b

    • Provide Error text: Phone number must be in the format +1 1234567890

15. Click OK

16. Click Save Changes on the policy form

Picture 1

Picture 2

How to enforce format for phone number with optional extension number

In this example we will configure Attribute Policy that defines user's office phone, when the extension number is possible but not forced:

1. Perform steps 1-13 from the previous scenario
2. Select Mask check box:
   • type in Mask: ([0-9]{3}\s[0-9]{3}-[0-9]{4})(\sx[0-9]{4})?$
   • type in Error text: Phone number must be in the format XXX XXX-XXXX x1234
3. Click OK
4. Click Save Changes on the policy form

How to enforce prefix for Distribution Group names

In this example we will configure Attribute Policy that defines the Distribution Group Prefix format as "DL_"

1. Open the Cayosoft Administrator console

2. Navigate to Home > Configuration > Web Portal > Attribute Policies

3. Click the button Add Attribute Policy in the upper right corner

4. Enter the name of the new policy, then expand the Policy Details

5. Click Add in the Policy Scope section

6. In the Specify Policy Scope dialog, select Active Directory in the first column Admin Units - see Picture 5 below

7. Select AD Groups in the second column  

8. Select New Distribution Group in the third column Web Actions

9. Click OK

10. Click the newly created scope to select it

11. Search for Group Name attribute

12. Select it in the list

13. Click Edit Policy - see Picture 6 below

14. Select Mask check box:

    • Provide Mask value: ^DL_

    • Provide Error text: Group Name prefix must be DL_

15. Click OK

16. Click Save Changes on the policy form

Picture 5

Picture 6

How to check attribute mask in Web Portal

Suppose, the first scenario is configured, when the office phone number must be +1 1234567890

1. Sign-on Web Portal
2. Search for any existing user or create a new one
3. Open user properties
4. Click Contact tab
5. Type Office Phone as "12345"
6. You will see the error message and red exclaim sign on the Contact tab - see Picture 3
7. Now type the Phone Number as +1 1234567890 - no errors, see Picture 4
8. Click Update user properties

Picture 3

Picture 4

Exclude all "." symbols from the string

Example: exclude all "." symbols from the user's last name.

1. Create a new Attribute Policy to control new user creation

2. Select Last Name attribute

3. Click Edit Policy 

4. Select Mask check box:

   • Provide Mask value: ^[A-Z](?!.*[.].*) 

   • Provide Error text: User Last Name cannot contain ".".

5. Click OK

6. Click Save Changes in the policy form

Find all user accounts whose email starts with a number

Example: Configure a Dynamic Group that will include users whose email starts with a number.

1. Create a Dynamic Group 
2. Add Membership rule with Include Query type 
3. Add AD Users command  
4. Set the Filter AD query results setting to {$_.mail -match "^\d"}
5. Save changes

Mask Regular Expression (Regex) Examples

Related Articles

Regular Expression Language - Quick Reference (Microsoft Docs)

Uniqness names generation in Attribute Policy