Belkast

Clipboard Manager

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Fri, 01 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This script requires that clipman, rofi, and dmenu is installed. All you need to do is change the location of the clipman history file and the name/location of the rofi theme file.

As part of your niri configuration, add the following line to use clipman:
spawn-sh-at-startup “wl-paste -t text –watch clipman store –no-persist”

The screenshot below shows the main rofi window which displays all relevant options. The first option allows you to quickly paste the most recently saved item in the clipboard and, for conveneince, the entire clip is not displayed. The delete option allows you to delete any individual item from the clipboard, giving you quite a bit of flexibility.

Window switcher

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

What it does
#

Even though the same functionality can be implemented with rofi and the window mode, I wanted to write my own version with the following additions:

Display OS updates

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Fri, 01 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

When integrated with Waybar, this script returns the number of OS updates.

As an example, the returned text below shows that no updates are available.
{“text”:“ “,“tooltip”:“No updates”,“class”:“unmuted”}

Touchpad toggle

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Sat, 02 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This script allows one to enable and disable the touchpad on niri, which relies on the niri configuration file having either of the values shown below.

//off // touchpad enabled
off // touchpad disabled

The script does a grep for touchpad enabled and acts accordingly.

Password generator

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Mon, 04 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This script will generate a password using a pick list in Rofi, and it is written to run on the Wayland compositor.

#!/bin/bash

function d_program() {
    {
      printf '%s\n' "16 non complex"
      printf '%s\n' "24 non complex"
      printf '%s\n' "32 non complex"
      printf '%s\n' "64 non complex"
      printf '%s\n' "96 non complex"
      printf '%s\n' "16 complex"
      printf '%s\n' "24 complex"
      printf '%s\n' "32 complex"
      printf '%s\n' "64 complex"
      printf '%s\n' "96 complex"
    } | dmenu -l 20 -c -b -fn 'SauceCodePro Nerd Font-16' -sb "#cd1bcb" -h 30 -bw 3 -i -p '' ${dmenu_args[@]}
}

choice=$(d_program)

if [[ $choice =~ ^$ ]]; then
    exit 0
fi

chars="a-zA-Z0-9"

length=$(echo $choice | sed 's/\([0-9][0-9]\)\(.\+\)/\1/')
type=$(echo $choice | sed 's/\([0-9][0-9]\)\(.\+\)/\2/')

if [[ type =~ ^complex$ ]]; then
    chars=" a-zA-Z0-9!#$%&()*+-:?@^_{|}~"
fi

pass=$(tr -dc $chars < /dev/urandom | head -c $length)
copied=$(echo -n "$pass" | tr -d '\n' | wl-copy)

notify-send "Generated password [$length] : "$pass --expire-time=2500

exit 0

Total window count

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Fri, 01 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

When integrated with Waybar, this script returns the total number of Windows on all workspaces.

As an example, the returned text below shows that there are 3 windows on 5 workspaces.
{“text”:“3 on 5 “,“tooltip”:“Window Count”,“class”:“unmuted”}

Workspace cycle

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Fri, 01 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This script will cycle through all workspaces, and will wrap to the first workspace when the last workspace is reached or will wrap to the last workspace when the first workspace is reached. This allows for seamless navigation of workspaces.

Workspace window count

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Fri, 01 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

When integrated with Waybar, this script returns the currently selected Window followed by the total number of Windows on the current workspace.

As an example, the returned text below shows that the currently selected window is the first window on a workspace with two windows.
{“text”:“ 1:2 “,“tooltip”:“Current Window”,“class”:“unmuted”}

Configure acpid events

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

First, you can run acpi_listen to get the name of the key that is pressed.

acpid configuration
#

Directory
#

/etc/acpid/events

Bash script for XSLT

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

#!/bin/bash

SCRIPT_DIR=$( cd -- "$( dirname -- "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" &> /dev/null && pwd )

dir_root=$SCRIPT_DIR"/"
zip_output=$SCRIPT_DIR"/"
file_xslt="$SCRIPT_DIR/roles.xslt"
file_name="All roles and resource.csv"
extension="*.zip"
file_prefix=true
allow_old_files=true
delete_matrix=false
password=true

delimit_if_spaces()
{
  filename="$@"
  if [[ "$@" =~ ( |\') ]]; then
    filename="\"$@\""
  fi
  echo $filename
}

do_help()
{
  echo;
  echo "Script usage flags: [-s] [-m] [-i] [-x] [-o] [-f] [-b] [-a] [-d] [-q] [-p]"
  echo;
  echo "-s"
  echo "    The directory to scan for files using the file mask"
  echo "    Default : "$(delimit_if_spaces $dir_root)
  echo "-m"
  echo "    The file mask applied when scanning for files"
  echo "    Default : "$(delimit_if_spaces $extension)
  echo "-i"
  echo "    The full path to the input file which the XSLT stylesheet runs against"
  echo "-x"
  echo "    The full path of the XSLT stylesheet"
  echo "    Default : "$(delimit_if_spaces $file_xslt)
  echo "-o"
  echo "    The directory where the output file will be saved"
  echo "    Default : "$(delimit_if_spaces $zip_output)
  echo "-f"
  echo "    Suffix assigned to the output file"
  echo "    Default : "$(delimit_if_spaces $file_name)
  echo "-b"
  echo "    Prepend the current date to output file (true | false)"
  echo "    Default : $file_prefix"
  echo "-a"
  echo "    Allow processing of files created in the past (true | false); only valid with the -s option"
  echo "    Default : $allow_old_files"
  echo "-d"
  echo "    Delete input file (true | false); only valid with the -s option"
  echo "    Default : $delete_matrix";
  echo "-q"
  echo "    Partial name of the Role or Resource (contains) to use as query"
  echo "-p"
  echo "    Use a password with 7z when extracting the XML file from the input (true | false)"
  echo "    Default : $password"
  echo;
  echo "Please note that this script requires xsltproc and 7z"
  echo;
  exit 0;
}

while getopts ":hi:s:m:o:x:f:b:a:d:q:p:" opt; do
  case $opt in
    h) do_help ;;
    i) matrix_file="$OPTARG" ;;
    s) dir_root="$OPTARG" ;;
    m) extension="$OPTARG" ;;
    o) zip_output="$OPTARG" ;;
    x) file_xslt="$OPTARG" ;;
    f) file_name="$OPTARG" ;;
    b) file_prefix="$OPTARG" ;;
    a) allow_old_files="$OPTARG" ;;
    d) delete_matrix="$OPTARG" ;;
    q) query="$OPTARG" ;;
    p) password="$OPTARG" ;;
    \?) echo "Invalid option" ;;
    :) echo "Error: Option -$OPTARG requires an argument." >&2; exit 1 ;;
  esac
done

echo;

if [ ! -z $matrix_file ]; then
  allow_old_files=true
  delete_matrix=false
  if [ $password != true ]; then
    password=false
  fi
fi

dir_root=$(echo $dir_root | sed 's:/*$::')"/"
zip_output=$(echo $zip_output | sed 's:/*$::')"/"

if [ -z $matrix_file ]; then
  zips="$dir_root""$extension"
  matrix_file=$(ls $zips | tail -n 1)
fi

start_time=$(date)
today_date=$(date +"%Y.%m.%d")

echo "Allow old files  : "$allow_old_files
echo "Use password     : "$password
echo "Delete matrix    : "$delete_matrix
echo "Use file prefix  : "$file_prefix
echo "Root directory   : "$(delimit_if_spaces $dir_root)
echo "Output directory : "$(delimit_if_spaces $zip_output)
echo "XSLT file        : "$(delimit_if_spaces $file_xslt)
echo "Matrix file      : "$(delimit_if_spaces $matrix_file)

if [[ "$query" =~ ^.+$ ]]; then
  echo "Role query text  : "$(delimit_if_spaces $query);
fi

if [ -z "$matrix_file" ] || [ ! -f "$matrix_file" ]; then
  echo
  echo "Input file not found"
  echo
  exit 0
fi

echo
echo "Matrix zipped    : "$(delimit_if_spaces $matrix_file)

check_date=$(date +"%Y-%m-%d")
filetime=$(find $matrix_file -type f -newermt $check_date)
if [ $allow_old_files = false ]; then
  if [[ "$filetime" =~ ^$ ]]; then
    echo
    echo "The file [$(basename $matrix_file)] is older than today. Not allowed!"
    echo
    exit 0
  fi
fi

matrix_file_name=$(basename $matrix_file)
IFS='_' read -ra ADDR <<< "$matrix_file_name"

begin="${ADDR[0]}"

zipcmd=(7z);
zipcmd+=(x);
zipcmd+=($matrix_file);
zipcmd+=(-aoa);

if [ $password == 'true' ]; then
  password="${begin: -4}.${ADDR[1]}.${ADDR[2]}"
  zipcmd+=(-p$password);
fi

echo "ZIP password     : "$(delimit_if_spaces $password)
zipcmd+=(-o$zip_output);
zipcmd+=(*.xml);

"${zipcmd[@]}"

dir_extracted_files="$zip_output${begin: -4}_${ADDR[1]}_${ADDR[2]}*.xml"
file=$(ls $dir_extracted_files | tail -n 1)

filesize=$(wc -c $file | awk '{print $1}')
if [ ! -f $file ] || [ $filesize = 0 ]; then
  echo
  echo "Something went wrong"
  echo
  exit 0
fi

echo
echo "Matrix XML file : "$(delimit_if_spaces $file)

if [ $file_prefix = true ]; then
  output_starting="${begin: -4}_${ADDR[1]}_${ADDR[2]}"
  output_ending="_run_on""_"$(date +"%Y_%m_%d_%H_%M_%S")""_"$file_name"
  echo "Output starting : "$(delimit_if_spaces $output_starting)
  echo "Output ending   : "$(delimit_if_spaces $output_ending)
  output_file="$zip_output""$output_starting""$output_ending"
else
  output_file="$zip_output""$file_name"
fi

cmd=(xsltproc);
cmd+=(--output);
cmd+=("$output_file");

if [[ "$query" =~ ^.+$ ]]; then
  cmd+=(--stringparam role_name "$query");
fi

cmd+=($file_xslt);
cmd+=($file);

"${cmd[@]}"
echo

if [ -f "$output_file" ]; then
  echo "File written    : "$(delimit_if_spaces $output_file)
fi

if [ $delete_matrix = true ] && [ -f "$matrix_file" ]; then
  echo "Deleting file   : "$(delimit_if_spaces $file)
  remove=$(rm $file)
fi

end_time=$(date)
echo
echo "End Date   : "$end_time
echo "Start Date : "$start_time
echo

exit 0

Newsboat streaming

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

#!/usr/bin/env bash

while read line; do
    me=$(echo $line)
    if [[ "$me" =~ ^Podcast\ Download.+ ]]; then

      url=$(echo "$me" | cut -d ' ' -f 4)
      type=$(echo "$me" | cut -d ' ' -f 6)

      echo "$type : $(date) => $url" >> /home/karmst/.config/newsboat/podcasts.txt

      if [[ "$type" =~ ^video ]]; then
        dunstify "Playing Video : $url"
        mpv -fs --really-quiet --no-terminal $url
      else
        dunstify "Playing Audio : $url"
        mpc add $url
        mpc play
      fi

    fi
done

Convert XBEL file

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This page demonstrates how to use an XSLT stylesheet to convert an XBEL (XML Bookmark Exchange Language) file into a structured, delimited text format. XBEL is a standard XML format used for storing and exchanging bookmarks between applications.

Belkast Software

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Sat, 20 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Belkast Consulting uses several products to support the company. The order is by no means indicative of how useful we find the software; it is merely a list ordered by how often the software is used.

Alt-Tab script for i3

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Wed, 14 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This little script lets you cycle through all your open windows on Linux. I’ve got it bound to Ctrl+Alt+Down and also hooked up to left-click on a custom Polybar module.

Rofi radio station picker

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Sat, 26 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This script uses pyradio, rofi, and the kitty terminal emulator.

The pyradio stations.csv file is read into an array
The array is then cleaned with an awk command and a sed command
The cleaned array is then piped into rofi
When a rofi choice is made, a grep for the selected item is done
Finally, the grepped line number is sent to pyradio using the -p command line flag

The format of the pyradio stations.csv file is shown below.

BBC Radio Ulster,http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/ms6/live/3441A116-B12E-4D2F-ACA8-C1984642FA4B/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/pc_hd_abr_v2/ak/bbc_radio_ulster.m3u8,,
LBC London,http://media-ice.musicradio.com:80/LBCLondon,,

Copy selected colour to clipboard

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

#!/usr/bin/env bash

COLOR=$(xcolor)

MY_NEW_VAR=$(echo $COLOR | sed -e 's/\r//g')
echo "$MY_NEW_VAR" | xclip -se c

Extensions on Edge Canary

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Go to Settings.
Tap on About Microsoft Edge.
Tap on Privacy and Terms.
At the bottom of the screen, tap on the Edge build number (e.g., Edge Canary 136.0.3220.0) 5 times to enable Developer Options.
In the Developer Options, tap on Extension install by id.

To find the extension ID, follow these steps:

Open the Microsoft Edge Web Store.
Find and select the extension you want to install.
Look at the URL in the address bar.
The extension ID is the long string of characters at the end of the URL (e.g. plkbiaiofflbcpfahbgmfhfmdchigfcb for Google as New Tab).
Enter the extension ID into the Extension install by id field on your Edge Canary browser.
The extension should now be installed in the Edge Canary browser.

Difference between two Dates

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Tue, 25 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The diffDate() function takes a start date and an end date and returns the human readable form. For example : 41 mins, 53 secs

var varStartDate = new Date();
// Do some things here
var varEndDate = new Date();

var varTotalTime = diffDate(varStartDate, varEndDate);
print (varTotalTime);

function diffDate (startDate, endDate)
{
    var varRegex_Time = new RegExp("^(.+?)\\.(.+)$");
    var varRegex_Truncate = new RegExp("^\\, (.+)$");
    varStart = (startDate != undefined) ? startDate.getTime() : 0;
    varEnd = (endDate != undefined) ? endDate.getTime() : 0;
    diff  = varEnd - varStart;
    secs  = Math.floor(diff / 1000 % 60);
    mins  = Math.floor(diff / (1000 * 60) % 60);
    hours = Math.floor(diff / (1000 * 60 * 60) % 24);
    days  = Math.floor(diff / 86400000);
    secsText  = (secs  > 1) ? ", " + String(secs).replace(varRegex_Time, "$1") + " secs" : "";
    minsText  = (mins  > 1) ? ", " + String(mins).replace(varRegex_Time, "$1") + " mins" : "";
    hoursText = (hours > 1) ? ", " + String(hours).replace(varRegex_Time, "$1") + " hours" : "";
    daysText  = (days > 1)  ? String(days).replace(varRegex_Time, "$1") + " days" : "";
    return String(daysText + hoursText + minsText + secsText).replace(varRegex_Truncate, "$1");
}

Blezz rofi extension

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

rofi-blezz is a configurable plugin for rofi, and to use it you simply require two additional files to be copied into the rofi plugin directory:

blezz.la
blezz.so

This is a great rofi extension that we use every day, but an update (at least on Void Linux) to rofi at the end of 2024 sadly broke the functionality. The good news is that we were able to recompile the blezz.c source code.

The two new files are included in the blezz.zip file, which you are more than welcome to download and enjoy.

SOAP Client

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

We are delighted to announce that our custom development offering, soapClient.jar, has been uploaded to the Belkast GIT repository. You can download the JAR file from the releases page.

We use IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition for our Java development. We have previously used Eclipse, but we now find that IntelliJ is far superior in almost every way.

We also use the Azul LTS JDK for compiling the program, as the JDK is supported until 2029.

Bash - read CSV file

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

#!/bin/bash

if [[ $# != 4 ]]; then
  echo
  echo "Arguments passed was $# (4 required)"
  echo "1st argument : properties file"
  echo "2nd argument : encryption key"
  echo "3rd argument : CSV file to process"
  echo "4th argument : CSV column delimiter"
  echo
  exit
fi

SOAP_JAR="callSoap.jar"
SOAP_KS="ldap.keystore"

if [ ! -f $SOAP_JAR ]; then
    echo "The $SOAP_JAR JAR file does not exist"
    exit
fi

if [ ! -f $1 ]; then
    echo "The $1 file does not exist"
    exit
fi

PROG_KS=$(cat $1 | grep "^SSL\\s*=" | awk -F= '{print $NF}')
PROG_KS=$(echo "${PROG_KS#[[:space:]]}")
PROG_KS=$(echo "${PROG_KS%[[:space:]]}")
PROG_KS=$(echo $PROG_KS | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')

if [[ "$PROG_KS" = true ]] && [[ ! -f $SOAP_KS ]]; then
  echo "SSL is defined as $PROG_KS in $1 : $SOAP_KS file does not exist"
  exit
fi

if ! [[ $2 =~ ^[0-9a-zA-Z]{16}$ ]]; then
  echo "The encryption key must have a length of 16"
  exit
fi

if [ ! -f $3 ]; then
  echo "The $3 file does not exist"
  exit
fi

PROG_DELIM=$(cat $1 | grep ARGUMENT_DELIMITER | awk -F= '{print $NF}')
PROG_DELIM=$(echo "${PROG_DELIM#[[:space:]]}")
PROG_DELIM=$(echo "${PROG_DELIM%[[:space:]]}")

if [ $PROG_DELIM = $4 ]; then
    echo "The $4 delimiter is invalid (also specified in the $1 file)"
  exit
fi

JRE="java"

echo -n "Where is java? Press enter to use \"$JRE\", \"v\" to merely verify the CSV file, or enter a Java location: "
read userInput
if [[ -n "$userInput" ]]; then
    JRE=$userInput
fi

PROPS=$1
KEY=$2
FILE=$3
DELIMITER=$4

echo
echo "Properties file      : $PROPS"
echo "Encryption key       : $KEY"
echo "CSV file to process  : $FILE"
echo "CSV column delimiter : $DELIMITER"
echo "Java binary to use   : $JRE"
echo

read -r firstline < $FILE

tags=(${firstline//,/ })
LENGTH_TAGS=${#tags[@]}

echo "Replace tokens [ "${#tags[@]}" ] : "${tags[@]}

lines_error=()
lines_total=1
lines_read=0
lines_valid=0
lines_end_check="^.+"$DELIMITER"$"
soap_sent=0

while read LINE || [ -n "$LINE" ]; do
  LINE=$(echo "${LINE#[[:space:]]}")
  LINE=$(echo "${LINE%[[:space:]]}")
  if [[ $LINE =~ ^.+$ ]]; then
    valid=true
    pos=0

    IFS=$DELIMITER read -r -a valueArray <<< "$LINE"
    LENGTH_LINE=${#valueArray[@]}
    if [[ $LINE =~ $lines_end_check ]]; then
      LENGTH_LINE=$((LENGTH_LINE+1))
    fi

    for element in "${tags[@]}"; do
      value=${valueArray[$pos]}
      value=$(sed 's/^[[:space:]]*//' <<< "$value")
      value=$(echo "${value}" | sed -e 's/\ *$//g')
      if [[ $value =~ ^$ ]] || [[ $LENGTH_LINE != $LENGTH_TAGS ]]; then
        valid=false
      fi
      pos=$((pos+1))
    done

    if [ "$valid" = true ]; then
      echo "[ PASS : line "$((lines_total+1))" ]"
      lines_valid=$((lines_valid+1))
    else
      echo "[ FAIL : line "$((lines_total+1))" ]"
      this_error=$(echo "[ line "$((lines_total+1))" ] : $LINE")
      lines_error+=("$this_error")
    fi

    lines_read=$((lines_read+1))
  fi
  lines_total=$((lines_total+1))
done < <(tail -n +2 $FILE)

if [[ ${#lines_error[@]} -gt 0 ]]; then
  echo
  echo "## NUMBER OF VERIFICATION ERRORS WAS "$((lines_read-lines_valid))" ##"
  printf '%s\n' "${lines_error[@]}"
fi

echo
echo "Verification result : verified lines was "$lines_valid" of "$lines_read

if [[ $JRE = "v" || $lines_valid != $lines_read ]]; then
  echo
  exit
fi

while read LINE || [ -n "$LINE" ]; do
  LINE=$(echo "${LINE#[[:space:]]}")
  LINE=$(echo "${LINE%[[:space:]]}")
  if [[ $LINE =~ ^.+$ ]]; then
    pos=0
    param=""
    IFS=$DELIMITER read -r -a valueArray <<< "$LINE"
    for element in "${tags[@]}"; do
      value=${valueArray[$pos]}
      value=$(sed 's/^[[:space:]]*//' <<< "$value")
      value=$(echo "${value}" | sed -e 's/\ *$//g')
      param=$param"\"$element$PROG_DELIM$value"\"" "
      pos=$((pos+1))
    done

    cmd=($JRE -Djavax.net.ssl.trustStore=$SOAP_KS -jar $SOAP_JAR --key $KEY --props $PROPS --replace $param)
    result=$(eval ${cmd[@]})
    result=$(echo $result | tr -d '\n')
    verify=$(echo $result | sed -E 's/^(.+)(Exception|SOAP Document received: )(.+)$/\2\3/')

    if [[ ! "$result" == "$verify" ]] && [[ ! $verify =~ "HTTP" ]] && [[ ! $verify =~ "Exception" ]]; then
      soap_sent=$((soap_sent+1))
    fi

  fi
done < <(tail -n +2 $FILE)

echo
echo "Finished processing [ "$FILE" ] : lines processed was  "$lines_read
echo "Finished processing [ "$FILE" ] : successful calls was "$soap_sent

Use VTD-XML to parse XML

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

On a recent project, I had a very large XML file which I needed to manipulate. Using the normal DOM method for parsing the XML was very slow. For a file with 8,000 Users, the DOM method took almost 10 minutes. This was clearly unacceptable, and I knew I could improve the speed.

That is when I stumbled upon the VTD-XML Java library. It took me quite a long time to get my head around the cursor concept and implementation, but I finally made it to the end of the road. Replacing my DOM code with the VTD-XML code (example below) ended up increasing the speed of XML parsing and manipulation by 8 times.

Useful VIM commands

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Thu, 07 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

C-g	shows file name
g~~	reverse the case
zz	position line in the middle of the screen without moving cursor

NetIQ eDirectory on Alma Linux

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Fri, 01 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

NetIQ eDirectory is officially supported on RedHat, SuSE, or Windows; but these are all paid operating systems and who doesn’t like a free alternative?

In the past, NetIQ eDirectory would install on CentOS with no configuration changes; but that operating system is End Of Life and is therefore no longer supported.

Using these instructions, you will be able to install NetIQ eDirectory on the free RedHat derivative Alma Linux. Alma Linux is a 100% binary compatible fork of RedHat, and therefore NetIQ eDirectory will run beautifully on it.

We have tested this configuration with Alma Linux 9.4 and NetIQ eDirectory 9.2.9. It’s very straightforward:

Nextcloud Share access

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The script shown below can be run via a CRON job (we run it every 15 minutes). It checks the Nextcloud apache2 log and sends out an email if a Share has been accessed since the last time the CRON job ran. The curl command which sends out the email uses the free Twillo SendGrid service,

Move a window in i3

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Tue, 15 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Move to the next / previous workspace

This Bash script allows you to move the focused window to the next or previous i3 workspace. This is very useful, as it allows you to get a tiled windo>

Update packages across distros

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Sun, 22 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The script below determines the Linux distribution based on the /etc/os-release file. Using an if statement block, the appropriate command for that distribution is set and, finally, executed.

#!/usr/bin/env bash

me=$(cat /etc/os-release |grep -m 1 NAME | sed -E 's/^NAME=(.+)$/\1/')

if [[ $me == '"Void"' ]]; then
  upd='sudo xbps-install -Su'
elif [[ $me == 'ArcoLinux' ]]; then
  upd='sudo pacman -Suuy'
fi

$upd

In your shell rc file simply assign an alias to the bash script above. Since I have laptops with VOID Linux and Arco Linux, it works well.

Bash - enable / disable trackpad

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Wed, 18 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The script below shows how to use xinput and sed to enable and disable the trackpad and, when the script is assigned to a shortcut key, it makes it quite handy. The script uses the sed pattern “s/(.+)(id=)(.+)[(.+)/\3/" to retrieve the correct trackpad ID.

Please note that you will need the following programs installed before the script will run:

UFS module and initramfs

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Mon, 16 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

You encounter the following issue : after a fresh install of Arch Linux on a Chromebook, the system does not boot. The system boot process gets to the initial Linux GRUB screen but for some reason the internal disk is not recognized. It could be because the Chromebook has a UFS disk and therefore, to fix this issue, you need to add the UFS modules to the initramfs image.

Assume you have the partitions listed below.

WPA supplicant (wpa_cli)

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Sun, 15 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

If you have installed Linux using a base image and not a GUI installer, and therefore need to connect to a WiFi network after the first boot, you can do so by following the steps outlined below.

Start by running wpa_cli.

Software List

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Thu, 12 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The list below gives you an idea of the software that we use here at Belkast Consulting.

NextCloud

The most popular open source content collaboration platform for tens of millions of users at thousands of organizations across the globe.

Click Here

Kimai Time Tracker

An open-source platform designed to keep track of and analyze your company's time-data, making it perfect for businesses of all sizes. Kimai helps you keep an eye on time and money.

Click Here

Suite CRM

SuiteCRM is the award-winning open-source, enterprise-ready Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software application.

Click Here

Paperless NGX

Paperless-ngx is a community-supported open-source document management system that transforms your physical documents into a searchable online archive so you can keep, well, less paper.

Click Here

Private Bin

PrivateBin is a minimalist, open source online pastebin where the server has zero knowledge of pasted data.

Click Here

IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition

The IDE for Java and Kotlin enthusiasts.

Click Here

Gitea

The goal of this project is to make the easiest, fastest, and most painless way of setting up a self-hosted Git service.

Click Here

Hugo Website generator

The world’s fastest framework for building websites. Hugo is one of the most popular open-source static site generators. With its amazing speed and flexibility, Hugo makes building websites fun again.

Click Here

Miscellaneous functions

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Sat, 20 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Miscellaneous Functions
#

Array of folders in a directory
#

function getFoldersInDirectory(directoryPath)
{
    var varDirs = new Array();
    var varDirectory = new File(directoryPath);
    var varFiles = varDirectory.listFiles();

    for (var ff = 0; ff < varFiles.length; ff++)
    {
        if (varFiles[ff].isDirectory())
        {
            varDirs.push(varFiles[ff]);
        }
    }

    return varDirs;

}

Array of files in a directory
#

function getFilesInDirectory(directoryPath)
{
    var varDirs = new Array();
    var varDirectory = new File(directoryPath);
    var varFiles = varDirectory.listFiles();

    for (var ff = 0; ff < varFiles.length; ff++)
    {
        if (varFiles[ff].isFile())
        {
            varDirs.push(varFiles[ff]);
        }
    }

    return varDirs;

}

Check if a file exists in a directory
#

function isFileInDirectory(file, directoryPath)
{
    var varFile = new File(directoryPath + file);
    return varFile.exists();
}

Arrays and Collections

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Fri, 19 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Array Functions
#

Convert ArrayList to Array
#

importPackage(java.util);
importClass(java.util.ArrayList);

var varArrayList = new ArrayList();
varArrayList.add ( "Item 1" );
varArrayList.add ( "Item 2" );
varArrayList.add ( "Item 1" );

print ();
print ( varArrayList );
print ( arrayListConvert (varArrayList) );

function arrayListConvert (arrayList)
{
  var varArray = new Array();
  for ( var ee = 0; ee < arrayList.size(); ee++ )
  {
    varArray.push ( arrayList[ee] )
  }
  return varArray;
}

Given the Array List of [Item 1, Item 2, Item 1], the function returns the Array Item 1,Item 2,Item 1

Encryption and decryption

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Fri, 19 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Encryption and Decryption
#

Generate the keys
#

openssl genrsa -out mykey.pem 2048
openssl rsa -in mykey.pem -pubout > public_key.pem
openssl pkcs8 -topk8 -inform PEM -outform PEM -nocrypt -in mykey.pem -out private_key.pem

doEncrypt
#

importPackage(java.io);
importPackage(java.util);
importClass(java.util.Base64);
importClass(java.security.cert.CertificateFactory);
importClass(java.security.cert.X509Certificate);
importClass(java.security.KeyStore);
importClass(java.security.spec.X509EncodedKeySpec);
importPackage(java.security);
importPackage(java.security.interfaces);
importPackage(java.security.spec);
importPackage(Packages.javax.crypto);
importPackage(Packages.javax.crypto.interfaces);
importPackage(Packages.javax.crypto.spec);
importPackage(Packages.javax.security.cert);

var JString = java.lang.String;

function doEncrypt ( password, file )
{
  try
  {
    var varCheck = (checkRegex ( password, "^.+$") );
    myFile = new File (file)
    key = new JString(Files.readAllBytes(myFile.toPath()));
  }
  catch (e)
  {
    return ( new JString() );
  }

  publicKey = key.replace("-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----", "").replaceAll(System.lineSeparator(), "").replace("-----END PUBLIC KEY-----", "");

  encoded = Base64.getDecoder().decode(publicKey);

  keyfactory = KeyFactory.getInstance("RSA");
  keySpec = new X509EncodedKeySpec(encoded);

  publicKey = keyfactory.generatePublic(keySpec);
  encrypt_cipher = Packages.javax.crypto.Cipher.getInstance("RSA");
  encrypt_cipher.init(Packages.javax.crypto.Cipher.ENCRYPT_MODE, publicKey);

  ciphertext = encrypt_cipher.doFinal(new JString(password).getBytes());

  var encoded = Base64.getEncoder().encodeToString(ciphertext).getBytes();
  return ( new JString(encoded) );
}

var varCerts = new Array();
varCerts.push ( "./public_key.pem" );
varCerts.push ( "./private_key.pem" );

var varPassword = "MyPassword";
varEncrypted = doEncrypt ( varPassword, varCerts[0] );

doDecrypt
#

importPackage(java.io);
importPackage(java.util);
importClass(java.util.Base64);
importClass(java.security.cert.CertificateFactory);
importClass(java.security.cert.X509Certificate);
importClass(java.security.KeyStore);
importClass(java.security.spec.X509EncodedKeySpec);
importPackage(java.security);
importPackage(java.security.interfaces);
importPackage(java.security.spec);
importPackage(Packages.javax.crypto);
importPackage(Packages.javax.crypto.interfaces);
importPackage(Packages.javax.crypto.spec);
importPackage(Packages.javax.security.cert);

var JString = java.lang.String;

function doDecrypt ( password, file )
{
  try
  {
    myFile = new File (file);
    key = new JString(Files.readAllBytes(myFile.toPath()));
  }
  catch (e)
  {
    return ( new JString() );
  }

  privateKey = key.replace("-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----", "").replaceAll(System.lineSeparator(), "").replace("-----END PRIVATE KEY-----", "");

  encoded = Base64.getDecoder().decode(privateKey);
  keyfactory = KeyFactory.getInstance("RSA");
  keySpec = new PKCS8EncodedKeySpec(encoded);

  privateKey = keyfactory.generatePrivate(keySpec);

  decrypt_cipher = Packages.javax.crypto.Cipher.getInstance("RSA");
  decrypt_cipher.init(Packages.javax.crypto.Cipher.DECRYPT_MODE, privateKey);

  try
  {
    decoded = Base64.getDecoder().decode(password);
    ciphertext = decrypt_cipher.doFinal(decoded);
    return ( new JString(ciphertext) );
  }
  catch (e)
  {
    return ( new JString() );
  }
}

var varCerts = new Array();
varCerts.push ( "./public_key.pem" );
varCerts.push ( "./private_key.pem" );

var varPassword = "Ou0b5H7ha/sVfqK+gA2hCPhs7c8qeGSTKkMAcyCH2vSjb8CfvfeE8d+NbDwzveYPxC4Rh5GNR0CiQaAZPIiIqV4DMv/i2ELhcjPeI9VWloX5OMrMa5VVoyWElRh93N+D1XP7j+N9ogxRstObLQS1C+uczFmLDEIkWvwNdEM8O7DdkKvgaULiw4r4kfV3ROM0Uu44hxsFTp8V3pIR9ncrkK27ZEE4SGsd1BtimxACNgzqc3fGXxICU4VRDgP0oSSHO35d8ouHt8raAmdVWfKFYqaIWgP9/RSmooHTCaQBfb1tCCLxXrEkEZa47bTIXyIs2I4pBc02OGrDdNMQtAbUWA==";
varDecrypted = doDecrypt ( varPassword, varCerts[1] );

As an example, I have wrapped the doEncrypt and doDecrypt functions in a separate class.
Notice that the two encrypted values are different, due to the fact that the values to encrypt are encrypted using a Public Key.

Install void src packages

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Sat, 02 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The first step is to clone the Void Packages git repository, using the command below. You might want to visit the git repository before you start, as it has important information which you would do well to read first. git repository.

Decode PRD content

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Fri, 09 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

When you export a Provisioning Request Definition (PRD) from NetIQ Designer, you are left with an XML file with 3 separate BASE64 encoded code sections:

srvprvProcessXML
srvprvRequestXML
XMLData

Using the custom script decode.js, you can decode these 3 code sections in to 3 separate XML files with the raw code. The decode.js script uses the rhino-1.7.15.jar JavaScript interpreter, so you will need this jar file in your lib directory before you can successfully run the decode.js script.

To run the script, put the following command in to a Linux shell script or a Windows batch file:

java -cp "lib/*" org.mozilla.javascript.tools.shell.Main decode.js "$@"

To decode the exported PRD in to 3 files, on linux, you can just type:

./decode.sh CAAR_07_02_2024.xml

Once the script has finished processing, you will be left with 3 XML files similar to the ones shown below.

CAAR_07_02_2024.xml_srvprvProcessXML.xml
CAAR_07_02_2024.xml_srvprvRequestXML.xml
CAAR_07_02_2024.xml_XMLData.xml

Please note that the decodeMe function in the decode.js file has been changed to use the built-in Java Base64 decoder function.

The nxsl.jar requirement has been removed and therefore, in addition to replacing the decodeMe function with the code shown below, you should also remove the importClass(Packages.com.novell.xml.util.Base64Codec); code.

Putty sessions in Rofi

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Instead of being required to open Putty when you want to connect to a SSH host, wouldn’t it be rather handy to display the list in Rofi?

The script shown below does just that, and it therefore provides a very quick way to connect to the desired SSH host. All you need to change is the config directory containing the putty session files, referenced on line 4.

Secure tunnel with frp

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Fri, 05 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Server A is an internet facing server which has port 7000 open to the outside world.

Server B is on the internal network, which does not have any ports open to the outside world.

To keep things secure, remember to make use of the auth.method which requires that a matching token is set on each of the frp clients.

Download frp from github here.

Bypass Android 14 SDK check

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Tue, 02 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

I own a OnePlus 6t phone which was released in 2018, and the last update the phone officially received was Oxygen OS 11.1.2.2 which was released in December 2021. This updated the phone to Android 11, but Google recently released Android 14. Therefore, to keep the OnePlus phone current with the latest version of Android and additional security patches, I use the crDroid custom Rom. However, Android 14 requires that all applications, at a minimum, must target an Android version greater than 6.0. This is a Google security requirement.

The following applications, which I needed to be available on the phone, did not work with the new version of Android. Therefore I had to sideload the applications on to the phone using ADB:

Password reset web applet

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Mon, 18 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The web applet, to be used in a User Application workflow, communicates with NMAS and displays a popup to the User with the result of a password change. The process is interactive, which means that the User does not need to navigate away from the form when the password change is being completed. The User gets the result of the password change instantly, right on the form.

Custom Scripting

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Sun, 17 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

We specialize in a variety of scripting and programming languages, including ECMAScript, Bash scripting for automation and system administration tasks, and Pentaho for data integration and business analytics.

We started leveraging the Rhino JavaScript interpreter back in 2008 when we were on a project with Union Pacific. Of course, at that time, there were other ways of writing scripts ( perl and python come to mind ). We, however, found the power of JavaScript and the fact that we could tap in to the Java libraries, while also bringing an easy single file install on Windows, Mac, and Linux, to be a major selling point. Every script we produce uses this method.

NetIQ Identity Management

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Fri, 08 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

NetIQ Identity Management, owned by OpenText, can automate many of the manual tasks associated with user provisioning and de-provisioning, making it a crucial tool for Belkast’s customers. By streamlining these processes, Belkast can help customers save time and money while improving security.

In addition, NetIQ Identity Management can help you automate the process of on-boarding and off-boarding users, making it easier and faster to manage access for your employees. You can quickly and easily revoke access for users who are no longer with your company, ensuring that your data remains safe and secure.

This is especially important for sensitive data and systems, as it helps to prevent unauthorized access and data leaks. With NetIQ Identity Management, you can quickly and easily provision and de-provision users, as well as set up access controls and permissions. Therefore you can be confident that your data and systems are safe and secure.

Leverage DXCMD

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Sun, 12 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

It is possible to get one Connector to communicate with another Connector, thereby transferring data from one Connector to another. An example use case might be that you want to query if a User already exists in an Active Directory domain before assigning a unique User ID in the Identity Vault. Or you might want to check one Active Directory domain against another Active Directory domain.

Evaluate XPATH

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Tue, 05 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This function can be called from DirXML Script, and offers a reliable way to evaluate XPATH expressions from within the context of the current XDS document.

<do-set-local-variable name="varValue" scope="policy">
	<arg-node-set>
		<token-xpath expression="es:getXPATH( $varDoc, $varXPATH )"/>
	</arg-node-set>
</do-set-local-variable>

function getXPATH ( varDoc, varExpression )
    {
    	var varLevel = 3;
    	
        tracer.trace(" getXPATH ( doc ) =====>> " + varDoc, varLevel);
        tracer.trace(" getXPATH ( expression ) =====>> " + varExpression, varLevel);

        var nodeSet = new Packages.com.novell.xml.xpath.NodeSet();
        var document = Packages.com.novell.xml.dom.DocumentFactory.newDocument();
        var ndsElement   = document.createElement("nds");
        document.appendChild(ndsElement);
        ndsElement.setAttributeNS(null, "dtdversion", "3.5");   
        var outputElement = document.createElement("output");
        ndsElement.appendChild(outputElement);
        var instanceElement = document.createElement("instance");

        try
        {
            var docFactory = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance();
            var docBuilder = docFactory.newDocumentBuilder();
            var xPathFactory = XPathFactory.newInstance().newXPath();

            var thisDoc = docBuilder.parse( new org.xml.sax.InputSource( new StringReader( varDoc ) ) );
            var thisDocRoot = thisDoc.getDocumentElement();

            var thisExpression = xPathFactory.compile( varExpression );
            var thisValue = xPathFactory.compile( "." );
            var thisResult = thisExpression.evaluate( thisDocRoot, XPathConstants.NODESET );

            var varResult_Length = thisResult.getLength();
            var attrElement = document.createElement("attr");

            for ( len = 0; len < varResult_Length; len++ )
                {
                    singleNode = thisResult.item( len ).cloneNode(true);
                    var myValue = thisValue.evaluate(singleNode, XPathConstants.STRING);
			        tracer.trace(" getXPATH ( value " + Number(len + 1) + " ) =====>> " + myValue, varLevel);
                    var valueElement = document.createElement("value");
                    valueElement.appendChild(document.createTextNode(myValue));
                    attrElement.appendChild(valueElement);
                }

        }
        catch (err)
        {
            var attrElement = document.createElement("attr");
            var myValue = thisExpression.evaluate( thisDocRoot, XPathConstants.STRING );
	        tracer.trace(" getXPATH ( value 1 ) =====>> " + myValue, varLevel);
            var valueElement = document.createElement("value");
            valueElement.appendChild(document.createTextNode(myValue));
            attrElement.appendChild(valueElement);
        }
        finally
        {
            instanceElement.appendChild(attrElement);
            outputElement.appendChild(instanceElement);
            nodeSet.add(instanceElement);
            return nodeSet;
        }
    }

Website migrated to Hugo

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Mon, 14 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Information about the Belkast Website

Client List

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Thu, 03 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Belkast Consulting has worked with many great clients since 2001. The first client we worked with was Capital One Bank in Richmond Virginia. We successfully implemented a JDBC Connector and had a great time delivering the project to the client.

Installing VOID Linux

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Manjaro Linux has been the default Linux install on the Belkast laptops and, over the last few years, it has been a very stable operating system. It has very rarely had an issue, with OS and package updates always working as intended. Many packages have been installed via the AUR (Arch User Repository), and these have worked well too.

Upgrades and Migrations

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Tue, 16 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Upgrades
#

Is your organization currently relying on outdated or unsupported NetIQ Identity and Access Management software? If so, it may be time to consider an upgrade to ensure the continued security, efficiency, and compliance of your systems.

Configuring Trace Level

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Sat, 25 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Initial Login

Login to NetIQ iManager.
Navigate to the Connector on which you want to configure the trace.

Driver Overview

Either of the following actions will open the Driver Configuration window:

Clicking anywhere on the Connector icon
Clicking on the circle in the top right hand corner of the icon, followed by clicking on Edit properties, as shown in the screenshot below

Driver Configuration

iManager Connector export

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Sat, 25 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Follow the steps listed below to export Connector code using iManager.

Access the NetIQ iManager Login Page

Navigate to the NetIQ iManager URL, and you should see a screen similar to the one shown below.

Identity Manager Administration tab

The initial screen, shown below, will be displayed.

Click on the Identity Manager Overview link in the top left hand corner of the initial screen.

Driver Set selection

A Driver Set search screen will be displayed, and on this screen you will need to select the Driver Set where the Driver you want to export is located.

Click on Driver Sets. The list of Driver Sets in the eDirectory Tree are displayed, similar to the screen shown below.

Click on the Driver Set which contains the Driver that you would like to export.

Driver Overview

The Drivers contained in the Driver Set previously selected are displayed.
Click on the Driver that you would like to export.
The Driver overview is displayed in the right hand pane, as shown in the screen below.

Click on Export.

Export Configuration Wizard

The Export Configuration Wizard window will open.

DirXML Query Processor

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The format for the Novell Query Processor is shown below, along with a description of the parameters and a few examples.

query:search($srcQueryProcessor/$destQueryProcessor,<scope>, <association>, <srcDN/destDN>, <className>, <searchAttr>, <searchValue>, <attrs>)

The parameters are described below:

Connected System Framework

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Thu, 19 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Belkast Consulting has development a reusable Framework which simplifies the integration of both Connected and Non Connected Systems with respect to NetIQ IDM. By using this Framework, you can implement the same application permission logic regardless of whether the System is connected via an IDM Connector or is completely ‘stand alone’.

Password Verifier / Setter

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Belkast Consulting has developed a Java command line utility to assist Micro Focus Identity Management customers feel confident that password synchronization is working.

Functionality
#

Reset a Users password as either the admin or as the User.

For compliant password policies in eDirectory, this will either set the password expired or not expired.

Supports both SSL and clear text connections.
All tasks work on the result of an LDAP Query:

It is therefore possible to reset the password on multiple accounts
It is also possible to verify password synchronization for multiple accounts at once

Supports any LDAP v3 compliant directory

Active Directory, eDirectory, Oracle Internet Directory, openLDAP
For Active Directory, login verification can use either LDAP DN syntax or DOMAIN\\LOGIN syntax
The LOGIN value can be retrieved from an attribute on the User object. If no attribute value is defined, the User DN is used

For additional security, in the configuration file, the Password and the Username are encrypted using a 16 byte key
The configuration file supports multiple [server] sections

Properties file
#

‘‘’text [program] ERROR_CODES = ./errors.ini

Public Key Encryption

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Often times you will want to scramble data before you store it in an LDAP directory or a database. The quickest method is to simply obfuscate the data by replacing each character in the original data with different ones, of course by using a known algorithm. For example, shifting the characters over two places on the ASCII scale before replacement. Once this is done, you would then Base64 encode the data. Not the most secure of methods, but it will work and make the data look like something it is not.

Convert Excel to LDIF

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Sat, 13 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Belkast Consulting has developed a simple solution that allows one to convert an Microsoft Excel file into an LDIF file. The resulting LDIF file can then be easily imported into any LDAP v3 compliant directory (NetIQ eDirectory, Microsoft Active Directory etc).

Migrate using DXCMD

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 12:39:57 +0200

Some people are blissfully unaware that there is a very powerful command line tool that ships with NetIQ IDM. The command line tool is dxcmd, and it can be used to start and stop Drivers, change Driver startup mode, start Driver Jobs, and start Driver migrations (the purpose of this post).

Add nodes to XML document

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

We were recently asked to provide code which satisfied the following specification:

In flowdata for a PRD I am trying to do the following in a mapping activity.
I have a string, shown below
2012-06-20T12:26:32.000+02:002012-07-17T12:26:32.000+02:002422224300cn=ADMKEVRAS,ou=sa,o=dataTest 11[DN on a group]
This string is just a stringified XML stored in a Case Ignore String attribute in edirectory. In clean XML it looks like this:

<data>
  <startdate>2012-06-20T12:26:32.000+02:00</startdate>
  <enddate>2012-07-17T12:26:32.000+02:00</enddate>
  <udlaaner>24222</udlaaner>
  <modtager>24300</modtager>
  <initiator>cn=ADMKEVRAS,ou=sa,o=data</initiator>
  <desc>
    <value>Test 11</value>
  </desc>
  <A1>[DN on a group]</A1>
</data>

I need to convert this string to an XML document in order to add one more child node to the node and also to change the value of the node. After this I need to stringify the XML document again in order to save the updated information to the String attribute in edirectory.

The Solution

In order to do what the request asks, the following steps are required:

Calling PowerShell

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

If you have your NetIQ IDM Engine on eDirectory which is running on a Windows Server, then you might just want to call PowerShell directly from the Engine; at least you have the capability of doing so.

Implementing a Service Driver

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

It is best practice to implement most of the lifecycle logic in a Service Driver when receiving data from an authoritative source. Some examples are shown below:

Initial assignment of a password
Termination and rehire of an employee
Transfer of an employee
Assignment of Group(s) on Creation
Email notification and auditing on Creation
Assignment and re-assignment of Manager

Query Mapping Table

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The mapping-table functionality in Micro Focus IDM is a great feature to store ‘IF A THEN RETURN B’ results. Unfortunately, this is as far as the logic can be stretched. Basically, the mapping-table allows data to be stored and retrieved based on only one condition. Therefore, it is not possible to say ‘IF A AND B THEN RETURN C’. There is, however, a solution to this problem: store the mapping-table in operation-data and use XPATH to retrieve the data you are looking for.

Read the IDM filter as XML

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Sometimes there is a requirement to read the IDM Connector filter and process the data.

Set a node-set local variable for the Driver DN (not shown)
Query the Driver, and read three attributes. One of the attributes read is the DirXML-DriverFilter attribute
Set a node-set local variable for the Filter. The DirXML-DriverFilter attribute is actually Base64 encoded, so this needs to be decoded
Use a simple XPath function to return the value of @subscriber for the User Class

The code below shows how to accomplish this.

Rewrite Veto

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The code listed below provides a better way to determine when an Object should be created in a NetIQ IDM Connector.

Usually it is very common to use the verb <veto-if-attribute-not-available>. This is neither advisable nor efficient. When using this method, there is no information given regarding the reason for the veto, and there is no way to handle multiple missing required attributes; the veto will happen when the first missing attribute is encountered.

Connector Development

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Our primary focus lies in the development of NetIQ Identity Manager drivers, an area in which we have cultivated extensive expertise over the years. Through our work, we have gained in-depth experience across a diverse range of over a dozen drivers. This breadth of experience enables us to design, implement, and optimize drivers that are tailored to the unique requirements of your enterprise.

Deployment review

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Are you encountering challenges with complex or convoluted code that is impacting your deployment process? If you require a comprehensive deployment review, we are here to assist.

Our team specializes in analyzing and optimizing codebases to ensure clarity, efficiency, and reliability. Whether you are seeking to streamline your deployment workflows, identify potential issues, or enhance overall system performance, we provide the expertise and support necessary to achieve your objectives. Please do not hesitate to reach out for assistance.

Workflow Development

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Our core competency lies in delivering specialized services for NetIQ Identity Applications. With a focus on this critical area, we provide tailored solutions that address the unique identity and access management needs of enterprises.

Array Comparison

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Sat, 12 May 2018 00:00:00 +0000

It is sometimes useful to be able to compare two arrays before loading the result into an MVEditor or a list. A few scenarios of when this is useful are:

Hash a string

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Sat, 12 May 2018 00:00:00 +0000

The ECMAScript code shown here SHA-256 hashes a string (sample output shown below).

hash: e52a26fe5ef07876b5e7f57c907a5a033cb60fc6eb9ffc462748b9c9aeeb45f5

importPackage(java.io);
importPackage(Packages.java.lang);
importClass(java.security.MessageDigest);
importClass(java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets);
importClass(java.lang.StringBuffer);

var varMyString = "Hash this string please!";

var varDigest = MessageDigest.getInstance("SHA-256");

var varOriginalString = new java.lang.String(varMyString);
var varHashedString = varDigest.digest(varOriginalString.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));

var varFinalString = new StringBuffer();
for (i = 0; i < varHashedString.length; i++)
{
    varFinalString.append(Integer.toString((varHashedString[i] & 0xff) + 0x100, 16).substring(1));
}

print ("hash: " + varFinalString);

UUID Generator

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Sat, 12 May 2018 00:00:00 +0000

The JavaScript / ECMAScript code shown below was used in a recent project in order to generate a Unique Identifier when a User created a new Service Provider definition from within a User Application Workflow. When the Service Provider feed was consumed by the JMS Connector, the Connector checked the metadata present in the Identity Vault against the UUID sent as part of the XML file ‘header data’. If the two UUID values matched, the Service Provider long name was equal, and the Service Provider short name was equal, the XML file was accepted; otherwise the XML file was rejected.

XSLT Tester

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Sat, 12 May 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Belkast was recently asked to implement an XSLT stylesheet to be used within a NetIQ IDM Connector. Rather than start up a Virtual Machine (VM), we decided to take a different approach: test the XSLT from the command line. Fortunately, it’s not very difficult to do this by using the built in XSLT processor in Java.

JDE Julian Date Conversion

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Mon, 10 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Below you will find the JavaScript / ECMAScript code which will convert JD Edwards Julian Dates to Java dates. The output format can be tweaked to your liking.

// According to the Oracle doc for JDE it’s C + YY + DDD
// C = Century 0 = 19, 1 = 20

// 097065  1997 and the 65th day of the year.
// 071138   138th day of 1971 = MM 05 / DD 19 / 1971

importClass(java.text.SimpleDateFormat);

var varMyDate = "71069";
print ("JDE Date: " + varMyDate);

var varParsedDate = parseString(varMyDate);
print ("Out Date: " + varParsedDate);

function parseString(varString)
{
    if (varString.length == 5)
    {
        varString = 0 + varString;
    }

    if (varString.length != 6) return;

    var varCentury = varString.substring(0,1);
    var varYear = varString.substring(1,3);
    var varDay = varString.substring(3,6);

    varYear = +varCentury + +19 + varYear;

//  print (varCentury);
//  print (varYear);
//  print (varDay);

    return dateFromDay(varYear, varDay);
}

function dateFromDay(year, day)
{
    pattern = "yyyyMMdd";
    format = new SimpleDateFormat(pattern);
    var varDate = new Date(year, 0);
    var varTempDate = new Date(varDate.setDate(day));
    return format.format(varDate);
}

The code handles leap year conversion, as the following examples show.

Track Workflow Comments

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Thu, 11 Aug 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This article describes how one can keep track of comments which have been entered into one or more forms during the NetIQ User Application request process. This is helpful if you want to display a ‘running commentary’ of the previously entered comments on each new form when it is presented to the User.

Tag node position using XSLT

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 00:00:00 +0000

The following stylesheet processes each <status> node present within an XDS document, and tags each node with the position of that node. For example, if the XDS document contains 3 <status> nodes, the first node will be rewritten as <status position=”0″> etc. The code listed below makes use of the XSLT function preceding-sibling in order to figure out at what position the node is placed within the context of the XDS document. The code loops around each node, one after the other, and tags each node with the relative position.

Random Bash scripts

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Sun, 10 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0000

If you want to reuse one of the scripts on this page, please ensure that you also have the following programs installed.

i3 or i3-gaps
dmenu
rofi
dunstify
kitty
zsh
mpc
putty
qutebrowser
xdotool
warp
feh
expressvpn
pcmanfm
pyradio
arecord
aplay
The necessary fonts

dmenu / rofi

Select an SSH session (requires putty)

In your i3-gaps ( or i3 ) configuration file, put the following line:

Secondary Accounts

keith@belkast.com (Belkast Consulting) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Introduction
#

Secondary accounts are identified and linked to their owner’s Primary account.
Secondary accounts are governed by an identity lifecycle – with options to remove, reassign, or transfer the access and privileges.
Secondary accounts may be managed through authoritative source events on the Primary account – and through workflow / lifecycle processes.

To get a flavour of what Secondary Account Management is all about, check out the video below.

The solution we have developed is truly unique and is based on the standard NetIQ Identity Management product; the following capabilities have been implemented:

Belkast

Clipboard Manager

Window switcher

What it does #

Display OS updates

Touchpad toggle

Password generator

Total window count

Workspace cycle

Workspace window count

Configure acpid events

acpid configuration #

Directory #

Bash script for XSLT

Newsboat streaming

Convert XBEL file

Belkast Software

Alt-Tab script for i3

Rofi radio station picker

Copy selected colour to clipboard

Extensions on Edge Canary

Difference between two Dates

Blezz rofi extension

SOAP Client

Bash - read CSV file

Use VTD-XML to parse XML

Useful VIM commands

NetIQ eDirectory on Alma Linux

Nextcloud Share access

Move a window in i3

Move to the next / previous workspace

Update packages across distros

Bash - enable / disable trackpad

UFS module and initramfs

WPA supplicant (wpa_cli)

Software List

Miscellaneous functions

Miscellaneous Functions #

Array of folders in a directory #

Array of files in a directory #

Check if a file exists in a directory #

Arrays and Collections

Array Functions #

Convert ArrayList to Array #

Encryption and decryption

Encryption and Decryption #

Generate the keys #

doEncrypt #

doDecrypt #

Install void src packages

Decode PRD content

Putty sessions in Rofi

Secure tunnel with frp

Bypass Android 14 SDK check

Password reset web applet

Custom Scripting

NetIQ Identity Management

Leverage DXCMD

Evaluate XPATH

Website migrated to Hugo

Client List

Installing VOID Linux

Upgrades and Migrations

Upgrades #

Configuring Trace Level

iManager Connector export

Access the NetIQ iManager Login Page

Identity Manager Administration tab

Driver Set selection

Driver Overview

Export Configuration Wizard

DirXML Query Processor

Connected System Framework

Password Verifier / Setter

Functionality #

Properties file #

Public Key Encryption

Convert Excel to LDIF

Migrate using DXCMD

Add nodes to XML document

What it does
#

acpid configuration
#

Directory
#

Miscellaneous Functions
#

Array of folders in a directory
#

Array of files in a directory
#

Check if a file exists in a directory
#

Array Functions
#

Convert ArrayList to Array
#

Encryption and Decryption
#

Generate the keys
#

doEncrypt
#

doDecrypt
#

Upgrades
#

Functionality
#

Properties file
#

Introduction
#