Object Manager - External Object Lists

External Object File Support

Note: For General information about Hyena's Object Manager, click here.

Managing a large collection of objects (hundreds or thousands of entries) in Object Manager can be a bit cumbersome. Object Manager supports "external" object lists that can be used to break the Object Manager listing into a more manageable size. External object lists can be stored anywhere, including a network location.

Creating an External Object List Reference in Object Manager

To create a link to an external object list:

Display Object Manager's Object dialog (File->Manage Object View...)
Click New and change the Object Type to "External Object List"
Enter a meaningful Name and optional Comment for the external list
Enter a Path, either a local or network UNC path, and file name for the external object file. Any valid file name can be used. The external object file is a standard tab-delimited text file (see file format below)

External Object List File Format

The format for external object lists follows the same format as the main Object Manager file, which is always named ad_objects.dat. Hyena stores and maintains this file either in the designated storage location as specified under Tools->Settings->General, or by default, in the active user's profile directory. Please note that the ad_objects.dat file stored in the Hyena installation directory is NOT generally used after installation.

If a large set of objects are already stored in the main ad_objects.dat file, and it is desired to move these objects into a separate external object file, follow these steps:

IMPORTANT: First, create a backup of the existing ad_objects.dat file.

Using Notepad, or any text editor, open ad_objects.dat and find and select the area to export. The entries are stored in the same order as displayed in Hyena.
Cut/remove the items from the file, and create a new file with the name as specified for the External Object List in Object Manager. Paste the items into the new file and save the file to the appropriate directory.

NOTE: The individual items in the file are separated by the TAB character.

To create an external object file manually, or by an external program, use this guide for the individual fields. Again, the fields must all be TAB delimited. The field order for both the main Object Manager file and External Object Listings is as follows:

Object ID - This field is not currently used for External Object lists. Nesting of objects is not currently supported. This field can be left blank/empty, or a unique number can be assigned to each object (row). If entered, this value must be numeric.

Object Parent ID - This field is not currently used for External Object lists. Nesting of objects is not currently supported. This field can be left blank/empty.

Object Type - The object type is used to indicate the type of object, for example a workstation or printer. Use the following table as a guide when setting this value. This value must be one of the following numeric codes:

99 - Windows (NT) Domain

101 - Windows 2000 Domain

113 - Windows 2000 Domain Controller

33 - Server (any operating system version)

24 - Workstation (any operating system version)

9 - Printer

52 - External Object List

86 - Directory Path

23 - Local Workstation

89 - URL

46 - Enterprise Networking

Reserved - Set this value to '1'

Object Name - Used for the display name in Hyena's GUI for the object.

Object Comment - Optional, used for the comment

Object Path - Used to specify the path to the object. See the Object Manager documentation on how to format the path depending upon the Object Type.

Object 'Server' - The server field is used only for domain objects as a mechanism to reference a specific server. See the Object Manager documentation on when and how to use this field.

Note: Additional External Object Lists can be referenced within an External Object List (IE you can nest External Object Lists inside one another).