Best practices for UDF and UDL names - BlueCat Integrity - 9.4.0

Address Manager Administration Guide

Locale
English
Product name
BlueCat Integrity
Version
9.4.0

Address Manager enforces no restrictions when creating names for User Defined Fields and User Defined Links (UDFs and UDLs). You can use any name with nearly any Unicode character. However, some names can cause problems when integrating UDL with external tools and applications. Others can cause issues if an update makes use of a name that collides with one you created.

We recommend the following set of informal rules to avoid current and future problems.

General guidelines:
  • Use only standard ASCII letters and numbers. Avoid symbols, punctuation, accented characters, and other non-English characters. Underscore characters ("_") are also acceptable under certain circumstances.

    This makes sure that names can be used on virtually any device and in any scripting or programming language. Even if your current third-party tools are Unicode compliant, tools you use in the future might not.

  • Keep the length to 24 characters or below. Some programming languages consider only the first 32 characters of an identifier. Restricting names to 24 characters allows for use of prefixes and suffixes within a third party script.

    On the other hand, don't make names too short. Very short names (like "address" or "private") increase the chance of name collisions with other tools and applications.

  • Do not use names that are reserved names and keywords for Java, JavaScript, Python, or GraphQL.

    Similarly, do not use names that are used by any BlueCat-defined property or method.

  • Make sure the name for each defined UDF or UDL is globally unique. That is, not just unique among the current scope in which they're inherited.

    Doing so increases the future flexibility of each UDF and UDL, making it easier to extend its functionality.

  • Make sure that names are unique even if letter case is ignored. For example, avoid using both "MyAddress" and "MYADDRESS".

    Address Manager treats UDF and UDL names as case-sensitive. Many third-party applications and scripting tools do not.

  • Begin your UDF and UDL names with a prefix unlikely to be used by BlueCat. A good candidate is an abbreviation for your company. For example, if your company name is "Example Company", you might use UDF names like "excIntrusionCount" or "excStoreStatus".

    Doing so helps avoid name collisions with features in future updates. It also helps you distinguish BlueCat functionality from any created by your own teams.

Additional guidelines for UDF names:
  • UDF names should start with a lower-case letter. Capitalize words within the UDF name, using "camel case" (for example, myIndexName)
Additional guidelines for UDL names:
  • UDL names typically use all capital letters, with words separated by underscores (for example, MY_INDEX_NAME). Using this convention helps distinguish UDLs from UDF names. However, if you prefer, you could also follow the same convention as UDF names.