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.

  1. Open Adaxes Web interface configurator.

     How
    • On the computer where Web interface configurator is installed, open Windows Start menu.

    • 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:

    • In Adaxes Administration console, right-click your Adaxes service, point to New and click Security Role.

    • Enter a name for the new security role and click Next.

    • On the Permissions step, click the down arrow embedded into the Add button and click Configure Web Interface.

    • Click Next and follow the steps in the wizard.

  2. In the top left corner, select the Web interface you want to customize.

  3. In the left navigation menu, click Actions.

  4. 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 for the rest of the Web interface components. For details, see Disable operations on directory objects.

    Organizing actions

    Actions can be organized into groups.

     How to organize actions in groups {id=howtouseactiongroups}
    • To add a new group, click the Add Group button located at the bottom of the action list.

    • To add an action to a group, first select the group, and then click Add.

    • 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.

     How to change the action description and icon {id=howtochangeiconanddescription}
    • Select an action and click Edit.

    • In the dialog that opens, change the icon and description of the selected action.

    • Click OK.

    The description text is displayed as a tooltip.

    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}
    • Select an action and click Edit.

    • 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
    • Select an action and click Edit.

    • 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.

    • Configure the object selection settings.

    • 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 logged 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 logged 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 configure where an object can be created, copied, or moved to.

    For example, you can allow creating users only in containers located under a specific organizational unit.

    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 Select Location step will not be shown to users.

     How to configure settings for location selection { #howto-configure-location-selection}
    • Select a Create, Copy, or Move action and click Edit.

    • In the dialog that opens, activate the Location Selection tab and configure the location selection settings.

    • 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 logged 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 logged 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 logged in user is located.

    To use value references when selecting objects:

    • Click the button.

    • In the dialog that opens, click Template.

    • In the Template 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, etc.

     How to configure operation settings
    • Select an action and click Edit.

    • In the dialog that opens, activate the Operation Configuration tab.

    • Select the Customize operation radio button and configure the operation settings.

    • Click OK.

    Custom forms and predefined values

    For the Create and Modify actions, you can customize the forms used for object creation and modification.

     How to customize forms
    • Select a Create or Modify action and click Edit.

    • In the dialog that opens, activate the Form Customization tab.

    • 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 { #howto-set-predefined-values}
    • Select a Create or Modify operation and click Edit.

    • In the dialog that opens, activate the Form Customization 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 logged 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%.

    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 visibilty.

     How to configure action visibility
    • Select an action and click Edit.

    • 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

    • Click OK.

    Approval requests

    The Actions pane can display information on requests initiated by the user or awaiting the user's approval.

     How to configure the Approvals section
    • To hide the Awaiting your approval or Initiated by you item, clear the corresponding checkbox.

    • To configure an item, select it and click Edit.

  5. Save the changes.

    The settings in a section can be applied to other Web interfaces. For this purpose, in the top right corner of the section, click the down arrow button and choose Apply to other Web interfaces.

     View screenshot { #collapse3}