Configure Actions pane
The Actions pane provides access to frequently used operations from any page in Adaxes web interface. On the Home page, the pane is always visible and is located in the left or the middle part of the page.
On other pages, the Actions pane is available from the 
menu located in the top left corner of the page.
Apart from operations on directory objects, the Actions pane can contain custom commands, links to external web sites, operations on Exchange mailboxes, etc. Each operation has a number of settings that you can customize to simplify the user experience and minimize the steps necessary for its execution.
In this tutorial, you will learn how to add operations to the Actions pane and how to change the settings of individual operations.
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Open Adaxes web interface configurator.
How
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On the computer where web interface configurator is installed, open Windows Start menu.
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Click Adaxes Web Interface Configurator.
To configure the web interface, you need to have the appropriate permissions.
Permissions
The permissions to configure the web interface are delegated via security roles. By default, only service administrators have the appropriate permissions. To enable other users to configure the web interface, grant them the corresponding permissions.
To create a security role that grants the permissions to configure web interface:
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In Adaxes administration console, right-click your Adaxes service, point to New and click Security Role.
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Enter a name for the new security role and click Next.
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On the Permissions step, click the down arrow embedded into the Add button and click Configure Web Interface.
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Click Next and follow the steps in the wizard.
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In the top left corner, select the web interface you want to customize.
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In the left navigation menu, click Actions.
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To add, edit, delete, and move actions, use the buttons located at the bottom of the Actions section. To hide an action, clear the corresponding checkbox.
To allow users to perform an operation only from the Actions pane, you need to disable it in other web interface components. For details, see Configure and organize operations.
Organizing actions
Actions can be organized into groups.
How to organize actions in groups {id=howtouseactiongroups}
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To add a new group, click the arrow next to the Add button, and then click Add group.
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Enter the name for the new group and click OK.
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To add an action to a group, first, select the group and then click Add.
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To move an action between groups, select it, and use the
and 
buttons.
Action icon and description
If necessary, you can change the icon and description of an action. The description text is displayed as a tooltip.
How to change the action description and icon {id=howtochangeiconanddescription}
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Select an action and click Edit.
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In the dialog that opens, change the icon and description of the selected action.
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Click OK.
Action confirmation
For some actions, you can specify a confirmation text that will be displayed before executing the action.
How to specify confirmation text {id=howtochangeconfirmation}
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Select an action and click Edit.
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In the dialog that opens, enter the message text in the Confirmation field.
Some actions have a default confirmation text. In this case, first select the Custom radio button, and then
specify the confirmation text. -
Click OK.
Target object selection
If an action is supposed to be performed on a directory object, you can configure which objects can be selected as the target of the action.
For example, you can allow users to select only the objects located in a specific organizational unit.
Also, you can allow selecting only specific types of objects or objects that match certain criteria. For example, security groups with the word department in their names.
For some actions, you can allow selecting multiple objects.
It is also possible to disable object selection and configure an action to always be performed on a specific object or on the account of the user who initiated it.
How to configure settings for object selection
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Select an action and click Edit.
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In the dialog that opens, activate the Object selection tab.
The tab name can differ depending on the selected operation. For example, it can be Group selection or Member selection.
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Configure the object selection settings.
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Click OK.
Different settings for different users
You can configure settings for object selection so that the list of available objects will differ depending on who is signed in to the web interface. For example, you can allow users to select only the objects located in their own organizational unit, or objects whose department matches the user's department.
To have different settings for different users, you need to use value references. Value references will be replaced with the values of the corresponding properties of the signed in user. For example, value reference %department% will be replaced with the value of the user's Department property.
To insert a value reference, click the
button.Location selection
For the Create, Copy, and Move actions, you can restrict where an object can be created, copied, or moved to. Adaxes uses the concept of top level nodes for this purpose.
A top level node is a domain, container, or organizational unit that does not allow browsing above it in the tree. For example, you can allow user creation only within containers located under two predefined OUs.
Also, you can allow selecting only organizational units that match your criteria. For example, only OUs with the word staff in their names.
And, of course, the action can be configured to always use the same location. In this case, the Location step will not be shown to users.
How to configure settings for location selection
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Select a Create, Copy, or Move action and click Edit.
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In the dialog that opens, activate the Location tab and configure the location selection settings.
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Click OK.
Different settings for different users
You can configure the location selection settings so that the list of available containers and OUs will differ depending on who is signed in to the web interface. For example, you can allow users to select only the containers located under their own organizational unit.
To have different settings for different users, you need to use value references. Value references will be replaced with the corresponding properties of the signed in user's account. For example, value reference %adm-ParentDN% will be replaced with the distinguished name (DN) of the organizational unit where the account of the signed in user is located.
To use value references when selecting objects:
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In the object selection dialog, click Template.
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In the Object DN field, specify a template for the distinguished name (DN) of a directory object.
To insert a value reference, click the
button.
Operation configuration
Some actions have settings that enable you to control all aspects of the underlying operation. For example, for the Reset password action, you can specify a template for the default password, configure the list of account options that can be modified during password reset, provide a custom message with instructions, and so on.
How to configure operation settings
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Select an action and click Edit.
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In the dialog that opens, activate the Configuration tab.
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Select the Customize operation radio button and configure the operation settings.
Requesting a reason for an action
Most actions can be configured to request additional information from the user who performs them. For example, a reason. The provided information will be visible to the approver (if approval is required), and will be preserved in the log record when the action is performed.
How to request a reason from the user performing an action
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Select an action and click Edit.
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In the dialog that opens, activate the Configuration tab.
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Enable the Prompt for operation reason switch to override the default operation configuration.
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Select the checkbox next to the switch.
- Customize the reason prompt settings in the dialog that opens.
You can customize the following sections:
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Custom title
You can set a custom title. By default, the title of the step requesting for a reason matches the name of the operation.Screenshot
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Description
You can provide extra details for the user performing the operation.Screenshot
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Field label
The field label is mandatory. Set the label to something that helps the user understand what they should enter into the field. It is recommended to keep the label short, putting all supporting details into the description.Screenshot
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Allow empty value
To make the reason required, clear this checkbox.Screenshot
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When done, click OK twice.
Custom forms and predefined values
For the Create and Update actions, you can customize the forms used for object creation and modification.
How to customize forms
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Select a Create or Update action and click Edit.
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In the dialog that opens, activate the Form tab.
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Select the Use custom form radio button and customize the form. For details, see Customize forms for user creation and editing.
You can also provide predefined values for specific object properties. For example, you can create several Create user actions for different employee types, and predefine different values for the Employee type property.
How to set predefined property values
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Select a Create or Update operation and click Edit.
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In the dialog that opens, activate the Form tab. To add, edit, and delete predefined property values, use the buttons located in the Predefined fields section.
You can use value references in predefined values. Value references will be replaced with the corresponding properties of the signed in user. For example, if you want the Department property of new users to have the same value as the Department property of the user who initiated the operation, you can set the predefined value to %department%.
Creation summary
The Create and Copy actions can display a preview of the new object and all of its properties before confirming creation.
By default, a summary is displayed when creating any object except organizational units, since actions inherit this setting from the Create and Copy operation settings.
If an action has a particularly simple creation form, the summary can feel redundant, and you may want to disable it just for that action. On the other hand, if the summary is disabled at the operation level but a specific action has a complex form, it makes sense to enable it for that action only.
How to configure summary settings for an action
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Select a Create or Copy action and click Edit.
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In the dialog that opens, activate the Configuration tab.
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Enable the Display a summary before creation switch to override the default operation configuration.
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Select the checkbox next to the switch to display the summary or clear the checkbox to hide the summary.
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Click OK.
Custom success step
By default, when an action succeeds or is sent for approval, the user sees a generic message reflecting what happened. You can customize this success step for each action individually, replacing the generic message with any additional information the user might need.
How to display a custom message after an action has completed
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Select an action and click Edit.
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In the dialog that opens, activate the Configuration tab.
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Enable the Customize success step switch to override the default operation configuration.
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Select the checkbox next to the switch.
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In the dialog that opens, activate the Success or Approval tab, depending on which screen you want to customize.
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Select the Display custom message checkbox and enter the message text in the edit box below.
You can make the message text depend on the operation target. To do this, you need to use value references in the message template. Value references will be replaced with the property values of the target object.
For example, if you are customizing the Create user action, %employeeType% will be replaced with the Employee type property value of the user account being created.
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Click OK when finished.
Action visibility
The visibility of each action depends on the user's permissions that are granted via security roles. If a user doesn't have the rights to perform an operation, the corresponding action will not be available and even visible on their Actions pane.
However, in some cases you might need to explicitly hide an action from certain users or groups. For example, if you configured several Create user actions, they will all be available to everyone who has the rights to create users, unless you restrict their visibility.
How to configure action visibility
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Select an action and click Edit.
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In the dialog that opens, activate the Visibility tab, and configure which users and security groups have access to this action.
The visibility settings of an action can be applied to other actions. For this purpose, click the down arrow button in the top right corner and choose Apply to other actions.
View screenshot
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Click OK.
Approval requests
The Actions pane can display information on requests initiated by the user or awaiting the user's approval.
To hide the Awaiting your approval or Initiated by you item, clear the corresponding checkbox.
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Save the changes.
Section settings can be applied to other web interface configurations. Click the down arrow button in the top right corner of the section and then click Apply to other web interfaces.
View screenshot