Best Practices – System Properties - Support and Troubleshooting

Best Practices – System Properties Description This article describes how system administrators can manage script behavior by creating system properties to use in scripts. Best practices include:

Table of Contents Best Practices Video Using System Properties 1. Using system properties instead of hard-coded values 2. Defining and using a naming convention 3. Grouping properties into categories 4. Creating a Properties page to display properties Best Practices Video

Using System Properties System properties are maintained in the System Property table [sys_properties] . You can access this table via the module navigator, or directly typing sys_properties.list in the Navigator Filter .

Warning: System properties store configuration information that rarely or never changes. Each time you change or add a system property, the system flushes the cache to keep all nodes in the cluster in sync. This cache flush might cause temporary performance issues to the instance if done excessively. As an alternative to a system property to store configuration information that changes more than once or twice a month, you can use instead a custom table to store regularly changing configuration information. 1. Using system properties instead of hard-coded values When required values are hard-coded into the server-side scripts, changes to these values must be manually adjusted in every script where they appear. To save time and maintenance, create system properties so that your scripts can use the values contained in those properties. When a system change is required, changes made to a single system property can be implemented system-wide.

2. Defining and using a naming convention Define and use a naming convention that makes the property easy to manage. This allows users to filter custom properties from the hundreds in the system properties list.

To define a property:

Create a property name with the company name. Add the application or process name (or both) using a dot notation to separate the elements. Add a description that is short and meaningful. If the property refers to a script, include the script name. For example, cd.default.assignment_group . To create system properties for the values: Navigate to System Properties Check for an existing property with the needed functionality before creating a new one. Click New In the Name field, enter cd.default.assignment_group (for example). In the Description field, enter the default assignment group description. From the Type choice list, select String . In the Value field, enter the corresponding value for the default assignment group. Submit 3. Grouping properties into categories To create a category to group properties:

Navigate to System Properties > Categories . Click New In the Name field, enter the new category. In the Description field, enter the category description. Right-click the form header and select Save . The properties-related list is now displayed. Click Edit . Select the properties and add them to the new category. 4. Creating a Properties page to display properties The Properties page gives easy access to all of the properties in one place. To display properties, create a new module under the appropriate application menu.

Right-click the application and select Edit Application Menu . In the modules-related list, click New . In the Title field, enter Properties . In the Link type field, select URL (from Arguments). In the Roles field, select admin . In Order , use the number where this should appear on the application menu. Click the image icon. Select the Properties icon. For Arguments , use the system properties UI page. Submit The property page now appears in the application menu.