Question on Required Attribute Behavior

Question

I am having difficulty understanding what the correct behavior of a "required attribute" should be. Im using 9ifs.
Using the Java API, I created a new content type derived from DOCUMENT, named it CLASSIFIED_DOCUMENT, associated a new file extension "cla" with it, and created a new required attribute called "Security_Level". From ifsmgr, I can see the new type and see that Security_Level
is a required attribute. When I upload a file with the "cla" extension from the Viewer, it is entered into the database and correctly associated with the CLASSIFIED_DOCUMENT content type. So far so good.
However, I have not supplied a value for the required attribute, and nothing complains that the Security_Level field is null. It seems to me that IFS should not allow the item to be entered into the database without this required attribute having a value, or perhaps a dialog box should pop up which forces one to enter values for required attributes before the instance of CLASSIFIED_DOCUMENT is entered into the database. Lacking that, an invalid instance is silently slipped into the DB...
So on to my specific questions:
How does one enter required attribute data when uploading using the Viewer?
Shouldn't IFS be complaining when a CLASSIFIED_DOCUMENT is uploaded without Security_Level being set?
Will required attribute constraints also be "ignored" when performing a programmatic file creation
(similar to the "Hello World" example) of an instance of CLASSIFIED_DOCUMENT?
Do I need to do other things when creating a required attribute using Java that will actually cause the attribute to be, well, REQUIRED?
Is there a RTFM answer to this, and if so, can some kind soul please point me to the correct FM to R? I have the Developer's Guide and the IFS javadocs. The Guide has good examples but is woefully inadequate if you want to do something different from the examples. The jovadocs are of course good reference material but have nothing in the way of "application notes". I have looked at the
example code and it suffers from the same shortfall as the Guide: if you want to do something different from what is in the example code, you're on your own!
Is there a document that I should be reading but have missed?
Thank you,
Jeff Rininger

Answer 1

Hi Jeff -
Thanks for the feedback.
REQUIRED attributes are exactly what you describe: they are a way to ensure an attribute has a non-null value when a new object is created or when that attribute is updated in an existing object.
From an API perspective, in creating a new object, that value can be supplied in three ways: explicitly by setting an attribute in the LibraryObjectDefinition, through a VALUEDEFAULT on the attribute, or (advanced topic) through custom server extensibility code.
One thing to keep in mind: REQUIRED checks are (intentionally) not performed in administration mode. You might want to try creating an object as a non-admin user. That should cause the check to be performed.
David Pitfield
Oracle