Technical Report

How to create your own custom WFA dictionary to retreive data from your own custom
playground Table

, NetApp
Creation : oktober 13

Last Saved : 13 oktober 2013

Last Saved By : Mirko Van Colen
Number of pages : 9
 How to create your own custom WFA dictionary to retreive data from your own custom playground Table.............

Mirko Van Colen, NetApp Creation : oktober 13......................................................................................................

Last Saved : 13 oktober 2013 Last Saved By : Mirko Van Colen Number of pages : 9...........................................

1 Document Control...............................................................................................................................
1.1 Distribution.......................................................................................................................................................

1.2 Version History.................................................................................................................................................

2 Add a customer playground database...............................................................................................

3 Insert data in the database from within WFA ?.................................................................................

4 Create WFA object...............................................................................................................................

5 Create a new filter for your object......................................................................................................

6 Create a new finder for your object....................................................................................................

7 Create your own command to go with the object.............................................................................

8 Create a workflow to use your custom command............................................................................

2 How to create your own custom WFA dictionary to retreive data from your own custom playground Table -
1 Document Control

1.1 Distribution
Name Role

PSC Netapp Belgium Mirko.vancolen@netapp.com

Table 1 : Distribution

1.2 Version History

Date Change Reference Author Version Sections Affected

10/13/13 Version created MVC 1.0 ALL

Table 2 : Version History

3 How to create your own custom WFA dictionary to retreive data from your own custom playground Table -
Hi all,

I had to create a customer table in the playground database, insert data in de database from WFA and
then retrieve those back later in a WFA custom dictionary (what I call object)
My table was to store CHAP credentials during a vserver-create workflow.
Then I needed to retrieve them again during a iscsi-lun create workflow, to have them ready as return
values for the workflow initiator. And as the chap-credentials are not included in any current WFA
dictionary, Ive had to create my own.

2 Add a customer playground database

Using SqlYog (a mysql gui) it was easy to connect to MySQL and create a customer table.

3 Insert data in the database from within WFA ?

I created my own MySQL insert/update command (made it somewhat dynamic, so it could be re-used
for other projects).
I documented this command in a separate document :
https://communities.netapp.com/docs/DOC-30478

4 Create WFA object

I've called mine : "chap_credentials".
Add a new schema (as your object cannot be in an existing WFA-scheme. I called my
scheme "cm_storage_%name-of-the-project%", as it was a clustered ontap project.
Add rows to you dictionary (vserver, cluster_ip, chap_username, chap_password)

4 How to create your own custom WFA dictionary to retreive data from your own custom playground Table -
5 Create a new filter for your object.
Give it the dictionary type you created earlier.
Write your query to retrieve a record from your custom table. Make sure to return all fields
you need (not just the primary keys)

5 How to create your own custom WFA dictionary to retreive data from your own custom playground Table -
6 Create a new finder for your object.
Give it the dictionary type you created earlier.
Select the filter you created earlier
Important : make sure you have all fields returned (at least the ones you need)

6 How to create your own custom WFA dictionary to retreive data from your own custom playground Table -
7 Create your own command to go with the object.
I needed a retrieve-only command, so I created my own "no-op-storage command"

7 How to create your own custom WFA dictionary to retreive data from your own custom playground Table -
8 How to create your own custom WFA dictionary to retreive data from your own custom playground Table -
8 Create a workflow to use your custom command

Use your custom finder to retrieve the data from SQL.

Voila, return your customer properties from your own custom table !

9 How to create your own custom WFA dictionary to retreive data from your own custom playground Table -