This is an article on how to combine multiple values from a multi-valued attribute into a single valued attribute. This is required when you have multiple values in for example the Location or Room Number in eDirectory.

We are first going to see what goes wrong:

When we populate the location field in iManager for a synchronized user the value gets synced as well:
Enter the single value in iManager:

And the value get synced to Active Directory:

Now we first remove the original value (make sure the removal of the attribute gets synchronized) and then add two values to the attribute:

But the value doesn't sync through:

But in the dstrace log we see an error:

13:07:48 AD-driver ST:
DirXML Log Event -------------------
Driver: \SHIFT-TREE\shift\AD-driver\AD-driver
Channel: Subscriber
Object: \SHIFT-TREE\shift\SHIFTUSERS\SjoerdH
Status: Error
Message: <ldap-err ldap-rc="20" ldap-rc-name="LDAP_ATTRIBUTE_OR_VALUE_EXISTS">
   <client-err ldap-rc="20" ldap-rc-name="LDAP_ATTRIBUTE_OR_VALUE_EXISTS">Attribute Or Value Exists</client-err>
   <server-err>00002081: AtrErr: DSID-030F10D6, #1:
   0: 00002081: DSID-030F10D6, problem 1006 (ATT_OR_VALUE_EXISTS), data 0, Att 13 (physicalDeliveryOfficeName)
</server-err>
   <server-err-ex win32-rc="8321"/>
</ldap-err>

To solve this issue we need to create a new policy, and in that policy we have to create three rules:

• Setup Local Variable
• Concatenate Values
• Remove Values If Needed

First I'll show you each rule individually and after that the end result.

The policy has to be created in the “Event Transformation Policies”:

Click 'Insert' and provide the required values:

We first create a simple rule that creates a local variable that is a nodeset of the L (location) attribute:

The second rule is a bit more complex. The conditions are still simple:

But the actions are a bit more complicated. Below I show you first the complete action list, and then I explain the first and third one a bit more in depth:

The first action is not even entirely visible. Click on the 'Edit the Actions' button. Now you see that 'for each' value you create a local variable called lvlocationoffice:

And again, this time the arguments, are not entirely visible. Click on the 'Edit the arguments'. Here you set the variable to itself, followed by a comma, a space, and a special value called 'current-node'. The current-node is the attribute value for the specific increment the loop is on:


The third actions needs a more in depth view of the arguments, if you click 'Edit the arguments' you can edit the verb 'Replace First'. Don't forget that you're replacing a comma and a space:

Needed in case it's a “remove all values” event”:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><policy>
    <rule>
        <description>Setup Local variable</description>
        <conditions>
            <or>
                <if-op-attr name="L" op="available"/>
                <if-op-attr name="L" op="changing"/>
            </or>
        </conditions>
        <actions>
            <do-set-local-variable name="locationoffice">
                <arg-node-set>
                    <token-src-attr name="L"/>
                </arg-node-set>
            </do-set-local-variable>
        </actions>
    </rule>
    <rule>
        <description>Concatenate Values</description>
        <conditions>
            <and>
                <if-local-variable name="locationoffice" op="available"/>
                <if-src-attr name="L" op="available"/>
            </and>
        </conditions>
        <actions>
            <do-for-each>
                <arg-node-set>
                    <token-local-variable name="locationoffice"/>
                </arg-node-set>
                <arg-actions>
                    <do-set-local-variable name="lvlocationoffice">
                        <arg-string>
                            <token-local-variable name="lvlocationoffice"/>
                            <token-text xml:space="preserve">, </token-text>
                            <token-local-variable name="current-node"/>
                        </arg-string>
                    </do-set-local-variable>
                </arg-actions>
            </do-for-each>
            <do-strip-op-attr name="L"/>
            <do-set-dest-attr-value class-name="User" name="L">
                <arg-value type="string">
                    <token-replace-first regex=", " replace-with="">
                        <token-local-variable name="lvlocationoffice"/>
                    </token-replace-first>
                </arg-value>
            </do-set-dest-attr-value>
        </actions>
    </rule>
    <rule>
        <description>Remove Values If Needed</description>
        <conditions>
            <and>
                <if-src-attr name="L" op="not-available"/>
            </and>
        </conditions>
        <actions>
            <do-strip-op-attr name="L"/>
            <do-clear-dest-attr-value name="L"/>
        </actions>
    </rule>
</policy>

Now the values in eDirectory give these values in Active Directory:

But also, these values sync back:

Cool Solution: Multi-valued Attribute to a Single-valued String
http://www.novell.com/support/dynamickc.do?cmd=show&forward=nonthreadedKC&docType=kc&externalId=10097756&sliceId=
http://www.novell.com/communities/node/3075/synchronizing-single-and-multi-valued-attributes-adedirectory
http://www.novell.com/communities/node/9413/generic-single-valued-schema-enforcement