.. highlight:: xml
.. index:: Selecting DataPower Objects

.. _use_of_regexp:

Selecting DataPower Objects in DPBuddy Commands
===============================================

Many DPBuddy tasks/commands can be applied to multiple DataPower configuration objects. You can see a full list of the configuration objects available in your environment by expanding "Objects" in the DataPower WebGUI.

Each object has a "class" (type) and a name. Classes are defined in the :ref:`DataPower XML Management schema <schema_options>`. You can see the list of all classes under the definition of "AnyConfigElement" in "xml-mgmt.xsd".

If you look at any DataPower configuration file created using :ref:`export`, child elements of the "configuration" element are class names.

DPBuddy allows for using regular expressions to match DataPower objects. For example, :ref:`delConfig` task supports ``namePattern`` and ``classPattern`` options defining what configuration objects to delete. Similarly, the :ref:`export` command's ``objects`` option defines what objects to export.

DPBuddy selects objects based on matching class names and/or object names. Only one of the two is required; you can select configuration objects based on just the class name, based on just the object name, or based on both. In the case of :ref:`export`, all objects will be selected if both class and name attributes are omitted.

Note that your regular expression needs to match the entire name and not just a substring within a name, so use ".*" where needed.

:ref:`assertState`, :ref:`quiesce`, :ref:`export` commands support providing a list of class/name patterns to include (``object`` option) or exclude (``exclude`` option). The list is a comma-delimited list of regexp patterns in the format "class:name, class:name". Class and name could be optional, e.g., "class, class" or ":name".

You can also use regular expression to exclude objects. This can be achieved using "negative lookahead" syntax, e.g., ``(?!Crypto).*``.

Examples
^^^^^^^^

Match all HTTP front side handlers:

.. code-block:: xml

   <object class="HTTPSourceProtocolHa.*" />

Match all objects (irrespective of the class) with the name starting with "Test":

.. code-block:: xml

   <object name="Test.*"/>

Match all HTTP front site handlers whose name starts with "Test":

.. code-block:: xml

   <object class="HTTPSourceProtocolHa.*" name="Test.*"/>

You can use "or" regular expressions if you need to select objects matching multiple classes and/or names. The example below selects all WS proxies and firewalls:

.. code-block:: xml

   <exportObject class="(WSGatew.*|.*Firewall.*)" />


Exclude certain classes from export, e.g., exclude all Crypto objects:

.. code-block:: bat

  dpbuddy export -file all-objects.xml -objects ".*" -exclude "Crypto.*"