Limitations of container names

One restriction imposed by the ADI XML document model is that each item of ADI consumed by the rules evaluator must have a unique container name. The container name must not be confused with containers provided by other entitlements data providers.

For example, two different data providers might provide a data item called TxInfo. The rules evaluator does know to which provider it must make a request to get this item of data. To help differentiate items of ADI with the same name, XML provides defining namespaces for data. The namespace ID of the namespace can then be used to differentiate one ADI element from another. For TxInfo, we might define a namespace companyA and reference this instance of ADI with companyA:TxInfo. See XML namespace definitions.

This restriction on naming containers among data providers is not enforced by the authorization engine. If the engine encounters multiple instances of the same item of ADI (for example, TxInfo), it adds them all to the ADI XML document for use in the evaluation. In the ADI XML document, there can be two items of ADI data with the same container name within the ADI XML input document. The assumption is then made they are structured in the exact same way. For example, a particular application request might involve a number of individual transactions, each with its own transaction amount. An authorization rule can be formulated to add all these items together. The rule compares the sum of the items to a predefined total transactions limit or to a per-transaction limit with an XSL node select statement. Example: ADI from dynamic ADI retrieval services in the Examples of authorization rules section shows an example rule. The rule sums multiple transaction elements in this way and even counts the number of instances of a particular ADI element.

Parent topic: ADI XML document model