Making an Attribute Searchable/Sortable from the Desktop

For both interactions and contacts, many attributes are not directly searchable from the desktop or cannot be used to sort results.

This section describes the way to make these attributes searchable from the desktop.

You do this by adding an option called is-sortable to the Annex section of the corresponding Business Attribute. Do not confuse this option with the is-searchable option. The following table compares the two.
 

Option	Effect	Used with
is-sortable	Makes attribute sortable from desktop, or returned in a list	Interaction attributes, contact attributes
is‑searchable	Makes UCS use the attribute in identifying contacts (at runtime) or searchable from desktop	Interaction attributes, contact attributes

By default, all user data that are attached to an interaction are stored in the AllAttributes attribute of the Interaction entity. You can configure UCS to copy those attributes to one the 9 dedicated columns any attribute that is represented in the Configuration Server database by a Business Attributes object of type Interaction Attributes.This will allow interaction lists to be sorted by that attribute and/or to return the attribute as a column in the list. The Interaction entity includes attributes StrAttribute1–StrAttribute10 and IntAttribute1–IntAttribute5, which exist to enable you to make attached attributes sortable. These attributes StrAttribute1–StrAttribute10 and IntAttribute1–IntAttribute5 may be referred to collectively as replicant attributes,as explained below.

Making an attached attribute searchable/sortable

1. In Configuration Manager, be sure that Properties windows show their Annex tabs. If they do not:
   1. Go to the View menu and select Options.
   2. In the resulting dialog box, select the Show Annex tab in object properties check box.
2. In the tenant for your UCS, go to Business Attributes > Interaction Attributes > Attribute Values.
3. Open the Properties window for the attribute that you want to make searchable (for example, Service Type).
4. On the Annex tab, create a section named settings if it does not already exist.
5. In this settings section, create an option named is-sortable and give it the value true.
6. If the attribute is of type string, you are finished. If it is of type integer, you must create an additional option, also in the Settings section, named type with the value integer.

Once you have configured an attached attribute as searchable/sortable, UCS takes its value as stored in AllAttributes and copies it as the value of one of the replicant attributes. To find out which replicant attribute copies a given attached attribute, look at the content of the IxnAttributeMetaData table. For example, if you have configured the ServiceType attribute to be searchable, you can find out which replicant attribute copies its value by using the following SQL request:

select MappingColumnName from IxnAttributeMetaData where TheName=’ServiceType’;

Please also note the following:

• This replication process only applies to interactions created or updated after' you perform the configuration described in this section. The replication process is not applied to interactions retroactively. The replicant attribute in older records will remain empty.
  
• Replicant attributes are read-only from outside UCS. UCS is responsible for synchronization of their content whenever Interaction.AllAttributes is updated.
  
• The mapping between a searchable interaction attribute and a replicant attribute is based on the type (string or integer) of the business attribute declared in the Configuration Server database (string by default). UCS chooses from among the replicant attributes of the proper type that are not already associated with an attached attribute. It does this until no more replicant attributes are available.
  
• Once a replicant attribute has been used for a particular attribute, it is dedicated to that attribute: it cannot be used for another one. The only modification you can make is to configure a searchable attribute to be no longer searchable. The replicant attribute that copied this attribute’s values will then retain those values for existing records and for any new records.