MS Azure AD Query Activity¶

Introduction¶

An MS Azure AD Query activity, using its MS Azure AD connection, queries object data in Microsoft Azure Active Directory and is intended to be used as a source to provide data in an operation.

Create an MS Azure AD Query Activity¶

An instance of an MS Azure AD Query activity is created from an MS Azure AD connection using its Query activity type.

To create an instance of an activity, drag the activity type to the design canvas or copy the activity type and paste it on the design canvas. For details, see Creating an Activity Instance in Component Reuse.

An existing MS Azure AD Query activity can be edited from these locations:

• The design canvas (see Component Actions Menu in Design Canvas).
• The project pane's Components tab (see Component Actions Menu in Project Pane Components Tab).

Configure an MS Azure AD Query Activity¶

Follow these steps to configure an MS Azure AD Query activity:

• Step 1: Enter a Name and Select an Object
  Provide a name for the activity and select an object.

• Step 2: Select Child Objects
  Select child objects to query.

• Step 3: Define a Filter String
  Set conditions for a query on the selected child objects.

• Step 4: Review the Data Schemas
  Any request or response schemas generated from the endpoint are displayed.

Step 1: Enter a Name and Select an Object¶

In this step, provide a name for the activity and select an object. Each user interface element of this step is described below.

• Name: Enter a name to identify the activity. The name must be unique for each MS Azure AD Query activity and must not contain forward slashes / or colons :.

• Select Object: This section displays objects available in the Microsoft Azure Active Directory endpoint.

  • Selected Object: After an object is selected, it is listed here.

  • Search: Enter any part of the object name into the search box to filter the list of objects. The search is not case-sensitive. If objects are already displayed within the table, the table results are filtered in real time with each keystroke. To reload objects from the endpoint when searching, enter search criteria and then refresh, as described below.

  • Refresh: Click the refresh icon or the word Refresh to reload objects from the Microsoft Azure Active Directory endpoint. This may be useful if objects have been added to Microsoft Azure Active Directory. This action refreshes all metadata used to build the table of objects displayed in the configuration.

  • Selecting an Object: Within the table, click anywhere on a row to select an object. Only one object can be selected. The information available for each object is fetched from the Microsoft Azure Active Directory endpoint:

    • Name: The object name from Microsoft Azure Active Directory.

    • Description: The object description from Microsoft Azure Active Directory.

  Tip

  If the table does not populate with available objects, the MS Azure AD connection may not be successful. Ensure you are connected by reopening the connection and retesting the credentials.

• Advanced HTTP Properties: Click the add icon to add a row to the table below and enter a key-value pair for each request parameter.

  To save the row, click the submit icon in the rightmost column.

  To edit or delete a single row, hover over the rightmost column and use the edit icon or delete icon .

  To delete all rows, click Clear All.

• Save & Exit: If enabled, click to save the configuration for this step and close the activity configuration.

• Next: Click to temporarily store the configuration for this step and continue to the next step. The configuration will not be saved until you click the Finished button on the last step.

• Discard Changes: After making changes, click to close the configuration without saving changes made to any step. A message asks you to confirm that you want to discard changes.

Step 2: Select Child Objects¶

In this step, select child object to query. Each user interface element of this step is described below.

• Object Classes: This section displays the available and selected child object classes to interact with in the Microsoft Azure Active Directory endpoint.

  • Available Child Objects: This section displays a list of child object classes available in the Microsoft Azure Active Directory.

    • Search: Enter any part of the object name into the search box to filter the list of objects. The search is not case-sensitive. If objects are already displayed within the table, the table results are filtered in real time with each keystroke. To reload objects from the endpoint when searching, enter search criteria and then refresh, as described below.

    • Refresh: Click the refresh icon or the word Refresh to reload objects from the Microsoft Azure Active Directory endpoint. This may be useful if objects have been added to Microsoft Azure Active Directory. This action refreshes all metadata used to build the table of objects displayed in the configuration.

    • Adding a Child Object: Within the Available Child Objects column, click anywhere on a row to select one or more child object classes. Then click the add icon to add selected classes to the Selected Child Objects column:

      

  • Selected Child Objects: After a child object class is added, it is listed here.

    • Removing a Child Object: Within the Selected Child Object column, click anywhere on a row to select one or more child object classes. Then click the remove icon to return selected classes to the Available Child Objects column:

      

• Back: Click to temporarily store the configuration for this step and return to the previous step.

• Next: Click to temporarily store the configuration for this step and continue to the next step. The configuration will not be saved until you click the Finished button on the last step.

• Discard Changes: After making changes, click to close the configuration without saving changes made to any step. A message asks you to confirm that you want to discard changes.

Step 3: Define a Filter String¶

In this step, a query's Filter String is defined for a query using available object fields and query settings. Each user interface element of this step is described below.

The interface used in this step of the configuration of an MS Azure AD Query activity depends on the tab selected:

• Basic: This option allows you to build the Filter String with guided fields.

• Advanced: This option hides the guided fields and allows you to modify the Filter String directly.

Basic¶

If the Basic tab is selected, this interface is presented:

• Object Fields: Select the fields to be used in the query based on the selected object class.

  - **Search:** Enter any part of a field name into the search box to filter the list of fields for the selected object. The search is not case-sensitive. The listed results are filtered in real time with each keystroke.
  
  - **Refresh:** Click the refresh icon ![Refresh icon](/_download/images/cs/conn/ms-azure-ad/refresh-icon.png) or the word **Refresh** to reload fields of the object from the MS Azure AD endpoint.
  
  - **Select All in Object Class:** When using the search box to filter, you can use this checkbox to select all visible fields at once.
  
  - **Select Fields:** Select the checkboxes of the fields you want included in the query to have them automatically added to the **Filter String**. You can also select all the fields at once using the parent checkbox.
  

  • Page Size: Enter a page size to enable result pagination. The number of results on a page will total up to the specified size. A link to the next page of results will also be included in the response.

  • Include Count: Select to include the number of results from a query as part of the response.

  • Full Text Search: Enter search terms to query for objects in the selected object class. The MS Azure AD endpoint handles how the search is interpreted for an object class.

  • Skip: Enter a number of results to skip in the query response.

  • Top: Enter a maximum number of results to receive in the query response.

  • Conditional Clauses: To add conditionals, use these fields as input to help construct the clauses, which then appear in the Filter String.

    • Object: Use the dropdown to select the object class to use for the conditional.

    • Field: Use the dropdown to select the field from the object class to use for the conditional.

    • Operator: Use the dropdown to select an appropriate operator:

      Comparison
      Equals
      Greater Than
      Greater Than or Equals
      Less Than
      Less Than or Equals

    • Value: Enter the desired value to compare against the previous dropdown selections.

    • Remove: Click the delete icon to remove the conditional from the table.

    • Add: Click to add a new conditional to the table and Filter String.

    • Remove All: Click to remove all conditionals from the table and Filter String.

  • Filter String: As you fill out the other fields in the Basic tab, the filter string statement in this text box is automatically populated with the selected fields, conditions, and query options.

• Test Query: Click to validate the query. This button must be clicked in order to enable the Next button.

• Back: Click to temporarily store the configuration for this step and return to the previous step.

• Next: Click to temporarily store the configuration for this step and continue to the next step. The configuration will not be saved until you click the Finished button on the last step.

• Discard Changes: After making changes, click to close the configuration without saving changes made to any step. A message asks you to confirm that you want to discard changes.

Advanced¶

If the Advanced tab is selected, this interface is presented:

• Page Size: Enter a page size to enable result pagination. The number of results on a page will total up to the specified size. A link to the next page of results will also be included in the response.

  • Filter String: Edit the filter sting statement directly.

• Test Query: Click to validate the query. If the query is valid, a sample of up to 10 records retrieved from the query is displayed in a table. If the query is not valid, relevant error messages are displayed. The query must be valid and validated through this button in order to enable the Next button.

• Back: Click to temporarily store the configuration for this step and return to the previous step.

• Next: Click to temporarily store the configuration for this step and continue to the next step. The configuration will not be saved until you click the Finished button on the last step.

• Discard Changes: After making changes, click to close the configuration without saving changes made to any step. A message asks you to confirm that you want to discard changes.

Step 4: Review the Data Schemas¶

Any request or response schemas generated from the endpoint are displayed. Each user interface element of this step is described below.

• Data Schemas: These data schemas are inherited by adjacent transformations and are displayed again during transformation mapping.

  The MS Azure AD connector uses the Microsoft Graph API v1.0. Refer to the API documentation for information on the schema nodes and fields.

• Refresh: Click the refresh icon or the word Refresh to regenerate schemas from the MS Azure AD endpoint. This action also regenerates a schema in other locations throughout the project where the same schema is referenced, such as in an adjacent transformation.

• Back: Click to temporarily store the configuration for this step and return to the previous step.

• Finished: Click to save the configuration for all steps and close the activity configuration.

• Discard Changes: After making changes, click to close the configuration without saving changes made to any step. A message asks you to confirm that you want to discard changes.

Next Steps¶

After configuring an MS Azure AD Query activity, complete the configuration of the operation by adding and configuring other activities, transformations, or scripts as operation steps. You can also configure the operation settings, which include the ability to chain operations together that are in the same or different workflows.

Menu actions for an activity are accessible from the project pane and the design canvas. For details, see Activity Actions Menu in Connector Basics.

MS Azure AD Query activities can be used as a source with these operation patterns:

• Transformation Pattern
• Two-target Archive Pattern (as the first source only)
• Two-target HTTP Archive Pattern (as the first source only)

A typical use case is to use an MS Azure AD Query activity in the Two-transformation Pattern. In this example, the first transformation (Query Request) creates a request structure that is passed to the MS Azure AD Query activity. The second transformation (Query Response) receives the response structure, which is then written to a variable by a Variable Write activity (Write Query Response) and a message is then logged by the Write to Operation Log script:

To use the activity with scripting functions, write the data to a temporary location and then use that temporary location in the scripting function.

When ready, deploy and run the operation and validate behavior by checking the operation logs.