The Shibboleth V2 IdP and SP software have reached End of Life and are no longer supported. This documentation is available for historical purposes only. See the IDP v4 and SP v3 wiki spaces for current documentation on the supported versions.

SAML2XMLObjectAttributeEncoder

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Last updated: May 15, 2009Version comment

SAML 2 XMLObject Attribute Encoder

The SAML 2 XMLObject attribute encoder creates SAML 2 <Attribute> elements from resolved attributes with an <AttributeValue> element for each value. The content of the <AttributeValue> element is XML. This encoder is only used for SAML 2 messages and will be ignored when the IdP is answering other protocol messages.

This encoder only operates on attributes whose values are XMLObjects.

Define the Encoder

Attribute encoders are defined in a <resolver:AttributeDefinition> after all <resolver:Dependency>.

To define a new SAML 1 XMLObject attribute encoder, create a <resolver:AttributeEncoder xsi:type="SAML2XMLObject" xmlns="urn:mace:shibboleth:2.0:attribute:encoder"> with the following required attribute:

  • name - this becomes the Name attribute on the created SAML 2 <Attribute> element

and the following optional attributes:

  • nameFormat - this becomes the NameFormat attribute on the created SAML 2 <Attribute> element (default value: urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:attrname-format:uri)
  • friendlyName - this becomes the FriendlyName attribute on the created SAML 2 <Attribute> element
SAML 2 XMLObject Attribute Encoder within a Simple Attribute Definition
<resolver:AttributeDefinition id="UNIQUE_ID" xsi:type="ad:Simple">

     <resolver:Dependency ref="DEFINITION_ID_1" />
     <resolver:Dependency ref="CONNECTOR_ID_2" />

     <resolver:AttributeEncoder xsi:type="SAML2XMLObject" xmlns="urn:mace:shibboleth:2.0:attribute:encoder"
                                name="ATTRIBUTE_NAME_1" />

</resolver:AttributeDefinition>

Defining more than one attribute encoder allows a deployer to transform a single attribute into multiple <Attribute> with different names and/or namespaces.