UMRA – Web Portal Error Handling and Control

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Tools4Ever’s Product Downloads Below.
Download User Management Resource Administrator > Download
Download Self Service Password Reset Manager SSRPM > Download
Download Enterprise Single Sign On Manager > Download

If you want to learn the basics on how to connect to UMRA with its COM object, please see my original post on “Basics of UMRA COM”.

UMRA – Web Portal Error Handling and Control

Anytime you build a UMRA based portal, or we build a UMRA based portal for our clients, one of the biggest steps in development is the handing all the errors that can happen with a specific UMRA script is executed. Before in some of my older blog posts I talked about how you can create a variable called %errorflag%, set it to 0 in the begging of your script, and if any part of your script throws and err, you can set this %errorflag% to 1. Then check the value of that variable via the COM object, and if its set to 1 then you know there is a problem with your script. Now, there are benefits and downfalls to doing it that way. One of the benefits is, if your script only does 1 action such as add a group to a user, then its easy to tell what the error is in the UMRA script, however, one downfall to this method is, if you have a script that does multiple things, you can code this into your UMRA script however that is a lot of overhead to program for each exception, so how do you get around this? Well, in the UMRA com there is a method called GetScript Exection Info. I don’t think many of our clients are using this method to check for error, however they should since it does all the error logic handling with a built in method.

Umra.GetScriptExectioninfo
This method has 2 Out parameters, the first is the Script Error Count, and second is the log message. Now after you have executed your script, just call this method and check the first return parameter, if it returned a 0 then we know the script ran without a hitch, but if it returns something other than 0 something went wrong, so then take the UMRA script log that is kicked back, and display it to the browser, or however you display your error messages.

So there you have it just another way to have your UMRA based portal wrapped in a little more error log. Again, both ways are great that we mentioned above for error handing, and it will be up to you to see what example works best. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me.

UMRA – Bulk Web Based Active Directory Password Resets

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Tools4Ever’s Product Downloads Below.
Download User Management Resource Administrator > Download
Download Self Service Password Reset Manager SSRPM > Download
Download Enterprise Single Sign On Manager > Download

If you want to learn the basics on how to connect to UMRA with its COM object, please see my original post on “Basics of UMRA COM”.

UMRA – Bulk Web Based Active Directory Password Resets

So I’ve been looking over looking over some of the search entries on my site, and noticed that there has been a huge increate on Web Based Active Directory Password Resets in the last few weeks, so in this blog post I will try to show how you can make a UMRA based portal that allows for bulk Active Directory password resets. Ok so lucky me, I recently created such an option in a UMRA based portal for a major school district in Washington that was replacing a software suite called VISUAL CASEL with UMRA. So below is a quick screen shot of how an “Admin” can select a specific school from a list, and bring up all students within that school, keep in mind that this information is a composite set of data, not only getting information in real time from there Student Information System, but also get Active Directory also. After the “Admin” has selected his school, we will put this data into a dynamic grid, that can show really any information you want to show to the end user, grade, school, location, status etc. all of which can be sorted, and selected. From here, I created a button called “Change Passwords”. When the user selects this button it will pull up the “Change Password” or in other words “Reset Password” from up to the user. Now, here the Admin can type in the new password, confirm it, and hit reset. This will take all the users in the list where were selected, and buck reset there active directory password. Now don’t forget, all these actions are being logged / audit into a SQL database, so you can go in later and review who reset whose password, time/date etc.



So I hope this helps some of you out there who might have been searching for this topic, and or trying to figure out how to do this web based. So keep in mind that all the data pulls, and password resets either in one off scenario, or password resets in active directory in bulk are all done with UMRA.

UMRA – Teacher Assignment Drop Box Management

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Tools4Ever’s Product Downloads Below.
Download User Management Resource Administrator > Download
Download Self Service Password Reset Manager SSRPM > Download
Download Enterprise Single Sign On Manager > Download

If you want to learn the basics on how to connect to UMRA with its COM object, please see my original post on “Basics of UMRA COM”.

UMRA – Teacher Assignment Drop Box Management

To read about the other options in the Teacher Management Portal, please see these blog post

File Distribution -
http://umratips.blogspot.com/2009/08/umra-teacher-file-distribution.html

Teacher Bulk Management -
http://umratips.blogspot.com/2009/08/umra-teacher-bulk-student-management.html

So this will be the final blog about the UMRA based portal that allows for Teachers to fully manage their current schools roster, without giving them any type of elevated rights in Active Directory or other downstream systems. So as you’ve already ready about within the teachers portal, they have the ability to Send Files to selected students within a specific portal, they also have the ability to manage a student on any given rosters of theirs. So the final part is to create Assignment “Drop Box” to allow the students from within there “Student Portal” (we will cover this later) to submit assignments to within the Drop Box dead line date. Now the tuff part about this section of the portal was to give the Teacher the rights to create a “Drop Box” folder, that will have a date on it from when it expires, and won’t allow students to upload to these Drop Box’s anymore. Now, I knew with UMRA handling all my backend folder creation and editing files. This would be no problem. So below is a quick screen shot, and I will go over some of the functions that the teachers has in more detail.



Get Folders Button -
In the toolbar, when the Teacher clicks this, UMRA will grab their home drive path, and map it to the correct current roster file location, and display any Rosters that are active.

2010 TeacherName PeriodX:
This is built dynamically, with the data that is pulled from the button click to get the folders. When the teacher clicks on the actual Period name, or roster name, it will pull up any assignments that the teacher has created for this roster period. Right now, the client is looking for a Phase 2 where they will add in “edit” and “delete” options for each of these functions.

Create New Assignment -
When the Teacher clicks this, it will pull up a quick entry form, where the teacher can put the Assignment name, and click a date picker, then hit “create” when they hit create, UMRA will take all this data, and create a corresponding roster folder.

Now overall again this is just one part of the Teachers Portal, and as you can see with all the options that we’ve talked about in other posts, the Teachers have a complete place to manage their students, and manage file distribution and drop box creation in one area, all with having no special permission in active directory or downstream systems. Now, in my next post, I will cover some parts of the student portal, and show you how these options directly affect the student portal.

UMRA – Teacher Bulk Student Management

Have Questions? Email Me: Email Me Click Here

Tools4Ever’s Product Downloads Below.
Download User Management Resource Administrator > Download
Download Self Service Password Reset Manager SSRPM > Download
Download Enterprise Single Sign On Manager > Download

If you want to learn the basics on how to connect to UMRA with its COM object, please see my original post on “Basics of UMRA COM”.

UMRA – Teacher Bulk Student Management

To read about the other options in the Teacher Management Portal, please see this blog post http://umratips.blogspot.com/2009/08/umra-teacher-file-distribution.html

Now in addition to the Web Based Teacher File Distribution system, our client also wanted to us to build in functions to allow for the Teachers to manage the students on their current active rosters. Now this poses another yet another layer of complexity, not only will we be managing the distribution of files within this UMRA based portal, but now we need to allow for some “admin” type active directory functions through this portal. Some of the features that the client wanted, were, Deleting Profiles, Repair Home/Profile Permissions, Unlock Account, and Change Password. Now, unlink the Admin Portal, these tasks are based on a one by one basis, and not like a one some or many like the Admin Portal. So below is a quick screen shot of just this section, and I will go over what each of the option does in more details.




Delete Profile -
This will take the Profile Path of the Student, and UMRA delete files within it. It will take this information directly from Active Directory.

Repair Home/Profile Permissions -
This function takes both the home profile attribute, and the profile path attribute in Active Directory and UMRA connects to multiple data servers and student information systems and makes sure the student has the correct permissions, to active teacher rosters. This is a great tool to have, since it use to take the client 15 minutes, to go through all of the folders, and correct permissions, now the Teacher can fix these within seconds.

Unlock Account -
This one is straight forward, this one unlocks the Active Directory Account if it locked. If the account is locked, the column “Locked” will say “locked”.

Change Password -
This pops up another screen where the teacher can change the students password.

Now don’t forget that each and every one of these functions are being handled by UMRA in the background, with scripts that were designed specifically for the client. So the client can go back anytime, and modify how a specific action takes place. But also, don’t forget that every action is also being recorded and audited to a SQL database, so you have a complete audit history of actions from within the portal. So there you have it, other function in the Teachers Portal. And as you can see, the limits are endless with you have UMRA as your back end logic tool.

UMRA – Teacher File Distribution Management

Have Questions? Email Me: Email Me Click Here

Tools4Ever’s Product Downloads Below.
Download User Management Resource Administrator > Download
Download Self Service Password Reset Manager SSRPM > Download
Download Enterprise Single Sign On Manager > Download

If you want to learn the basics on how to connect to UMRA with its COM object, please see my original post on “Basics of UMRA COM”.

UMRA – Student File Distribution Management

Now if you haven’t already, read my original blog post on some of the tips and tricks I’ve learned when creating such a Student File Distribution Management Portal: http://umratips.blogspot.com/2009/08/umra-file-data-distribution-management.html

So I finally finished up the Distribution System for a local school district that wanted to replace Visual CASEL functionally with a UMRA driven solution. Now, below is a screen shot of the final product that is in use in the clients system. As you can see, a very clean system that pulls Teacher Rosters dynamically from a Student Information System, and also links this data in real time within Active Directory. So below I will go over in some detail about each of the sections in this Student File Distribution Management System with UMRA.



Main Menu -
Here is a list of the current Teacher Rosters in the Student Information System, A teach can many one or also rosters from this menu.

Roster Details -
After a Teacher has selected an available year, from the Main Menu, My Rosters Menu, it will display the current rosters for that year.

Period X: File Distribution -
Now you most likely see the other 2 options Student Management, and Assignment Management, we will talk about these tabs later. Keep in mind both those tabs will display options for the selected Teacher Roster. So this tab shows current files that the teacher has uploaded, and are pending to be sent to the students selected. You will notice a hyper link called “Distribute Files” this is the link they will click to send files. Now here is where I placed some extra error logic on this function. I do a check to make sure, the Teacher has at least file in the file upload directory, and to make sure at least one student is selected.

Current Roster Students -
This is sort able, dynamic grid that allows for scrolling, and sorting on any of the header items, and also allows for resizable headers. This is a list of students from the selected roster, and it also display current information from the student information system, with a mix of data from Active Directory also.

So there you have it, a quick overview of my Student File Distribution Management System I build for a local school district, using UMRA as my backend logic tool.

SSRPM – Web Interface Edits and Tips

Have Questions? Email Me: Email Me Click Here

Tools4Ever’s Product Downloads Below.
Download User Management Resource Administrator > Download
Download Self Service Password Reset Manager SSRPM > Download
Download Enterprise Single Sign On Manager > Download

If you want to learn the basics on how to connect to UMRA with its COM object, please see my original post on “Basics of UMRA COM”.

SSRPM – Web Interface Edits and Tips

In this blog post we are going to switch it up some, and talk about a product by tools4ever called SSRPM. SSRPM is short for Self Service Password Reset Manager. This application allows the end user to reset there active directory password with a series of challenge and response questions to authentication who they are. With SSRPM the end user can reset there password two multiple ways, one way is via the “Forgot My Password” button that is added to the windows login screen, and the other is a via a web interface. The web interface is written in .asp pages, and in most cases our clients want to us to make a few changes to the SSRPM web interface. Some of these changes can include a complete Re-skin of the SSRPM web interface to give it more of an integrated look with their school, or corporate colors. And in other cases, the client just wants some basics changes like hard coding the domain name in the Reset Password, and Enroll buttons. The reason for this is because sometimes a user might not know what their domain is, and making it easier for the client to either select it from a drop down, or hard code it and hide it, makes the end user experience a lot easier. So in this post, I will cover what pages, and code needs to be edited if you wanted to hard code your domain into the sections that ask for the domain text input in the SSRPM web interface.

So if you haven’t already, you can Download Self Service Password Reset Manager SSRPM > Download. This will get you up to date with what I’m talking about.

There are 2 pages you will need to edit, Logon.asp, and Identify.asp. Both these pages, have the same user form that asks for username, password, and domain. You can use your favorite web pages editor, or even notepad to edit these pages, a free tool I recommend is notepad ++.

In both of these pages, look for lines 65-66 they will be the below.



Here is what it should look like after you’ve done the above web page edits.



After you have updated both Logon.asp and Identify.asp with the example above, try to enroll, or reset your password, and you will see now that you no longer need to enter your domain as an input, making each of the process a little more steam lined. So I hope this helps any of you out there who was thinking about editing the SSRPM web interface.

UMRA – File / Data Distribution Management

Have Questions? Email Me: Email Me Click Here

Tools4Ever’s Product Downloads Below.
Download User Management Resource Administrator > Download
Download Self Service Password Reset Manager SSRPM > Download
Download Enterprise Single Sign On Manager > Download

If you want to learn the basics on how to connect to UMRA with its COM object, please see my original post on “Basics of UMRA COM”.

UMRA – File Distribution Management

As some of you know, I’ve been working in creating a File Distribution system with UMRA to send these files to students of a teachers year roster. Now at first you might think this task sounds fairly simple, and it’s a simple send 1 file to a student, and you’re done. However, this task actually is more complex than just that; it involves a complete UMRA Web Portal to accomplish this task. The school district I am working with wants to replace some, if not all the tools in Visual CASEL with a custom UMRA Web Portal. The web portal would allow them to still do the tasks they’ve always done before, however now they have more flexible ways to manage other work flows, other than File Distribution Management. But back to the topic, the client wanted a way for a teach to come into a portal, and display their current rosters there are stored in a SQL stored procedure. From here, the teacher can manage anyone on their roster; they can have the ability to reset student passwords, fix student home folders, set admin disables, and so much more. But the main part was to be able to select one or some files, then select one some or all students in a roster and then distrusted the files to those selected students. Now there are two big hurdles when you are doing a project like this, one is how to make a multi select upload, and how to keep track of the students who are selected in the list. Now don’t forget to put in error logic, that makes sure that files uploaded correctly, and that they actually selected someone on the roster list.

Here is how I was able to make a temporary upload area for the teacher to add files to until they are ready to distribute them. When the teacher first goes to the “Assignment Management” section in the portal, I will do a check to see if they have any files in a special Temp Upload Directory in the Teachers home folder, if there are any files, show them on the page, and if they don’t, display nothing. If the teacher does not have this file for Temp Upload, have UMRA create the folder. From here, you just allow the Teacher to select files, and upload them until the list is ready for distribution. Again, don’t forget to add error logic to make sure the teacher has files to distribute, and that they actually selected one some or all students from a list.

In my next blog post I will talk more about what happens after the teacher distributes the files. However, below is a quick screen shot on this File Distribution Management System.