Setting up custom property mappings

Introduction

Custom properties in SharePoint (like those used in the proprietary ILM SharePoint extension) need to be treated differently than normal file properties, as they are linked internally to a list of possible values.

This guide will demonstrate how you can get the three different names that need to be assigned to the SHAREPOINT_FETCHER_CUSTOM_PROPERTIES variable in case you want to use custom properties.

Note

In case you’re looking for the Revision Status or the Work On Status property, here’s your quick solution:

Just set the SHAREPOINT_FETCHER_CUSTOM_PROPERTIES variable to "RevisionStatusId=>RevisionStatus=>RevisionStatus|WorkOnStatusId=>WorkOn Status=>WorkOnStatus"

If you already have the triplet mapping and want to know how you can use them in your config, have a look at: Using custom ILM properties.

If you’re looking for other custom properties, simply follow the steps described below.

Getting the first name

Look for the desired key name in the downloaded properties file your_doc_file_name__properties__.json. You’ll find it in the evidence folder of the respective autopilot after completing a run. The property name there might already differ from the one you’ll find in the web interface. Also, the value might be different. Instead of a term found in the web interface like “Valid”, you could find an integer there. For example in the Browser we have a property called Status with the value Valid. In the downloaded file, the same property is called RevisionStatusId and contains a value of 2. Figuring out which name from the file belongs to which name from the web interface can be a bit difficult sometimes. Once you figured that out, you’ve found your first required name. So for our example, the first name would be RevisionStatusId.

Screenshot of the my_doc__properties__.json file, opened in the browser.

Getting the second name

Adjust the first part of the following link to use your desired SharePoint site and open it: https://some.sharepoint.server/sites/123456/_api/web/Lists/. There, go ahead and use the find in page functionality to help you find the name you’re looking for. Enter Title>YOUR_SEARCH_TERM as the string it should search for and play around with the YOUR_SEARCH_TERM. In our case, we tried it with Title>Revision and found <d:Title>RevisionStatus</d:Title>, that’s the structure you’re looking for. If the term between the tags sounds promising to you, note it down. So our second name is RevisionStatus.

Screenshot of the file retrieved from the URL given above, opened in the browser.

Getting the third name

Again, adjust the following link to use the right SharePoint site and of course also adjust RevisionStatus with the name you found in the previous step: https://some.sharepoint.server/sites/123456/_api/web/Lists/GetByTitle('RevisionStatus')/items(1). Use the find in page functionality to help you find the next name you’re looking for. Enter d:YOUR_SEARCH_STRING and again, play around with the search term. We’ve simply used d:Revision again and found <d:RevisionStatus>Draft</d:RevisionStatus>. This time, you’ll find the name you’re looking for in the tags at the beginning and the end. In between the two, you have one of the human-readable names/possible values of the overall property. So our third name is RevisionStatus. In this case, this is the same as the second name, but for other properties all three names are different.

Screenshot of the file retrieved from the URL given above, opened in the browser.

If you now want to know how you can use the mapping in your own config, have a look at: Using custom ILM properties.