Create a Content File for a Customer-maintained List

Content file for a simple list in txt format

The following is an example of a content file in txt format for a customer-maintained list of the Wildcard Expression type.

type=regex
"*.txt" "txt file extension"
"*.xml" "xml file extension"

The example illustrates the following conventions for a content file in txt format.

• The first line in the file specifies the type of the customer-maintained list that the content file is provided for. The format is: type=<list type>
  For the list type, one of the following terms must be used: applcontrol, category, dimension, ip, iprange, mediatype, number, string, regex.
• The lines below the first line are for list entries in the customer-maintained list.
  A line contains as many items as a list entry in the customer-maintained list. Each item is included in double quotes.
  An entry in a list of the Wildcard Expression type contains two items. One is the wildcard expression, the other is a comment that describes the wildcard expression.

The following example illustrates some more conventions for a content file.

type=string
"withoutDescription"
"*emptyDescription\"\"\" ""
"data with description and more spaces in-between"     "description"
"data with spaces*     "       "description"
"Hello\"Michael\" \"Michael!\"" ""

• An entry in a list of the String type also contains two items: the string and a comment that describes it. However, the description can be omitted.
  If the description is omitted, the item for it in the content file can also be omitted, which is shown in line 2.
• Alternatively, if the description is omitted, this can be represented by two double quotes with nothing in between, as shown in line 3.
  The line also illustrates the following:
  • Double quotes occurring in a string must be masked by a following backslash.
  • A backslash that does not follow on double quotes represents itself (a backslash).
  • Non-alphanumerical characters, such as the * (asterisk), are allowed at the beginning of a string.
    
    On the user interface, the list entry specified in line 3 would look as follows: *emptyDescription\""
     
• If multiple spaces are inserted between items in the content file, they are ignored in the list entries of the customer-maintained file.
  On the user interface, the entry specified in line 4 would therefore look as follows: "data with description and more spaces in-between" "description"
• Multiple spaces within a string in a content file are also ignored in the list entry of the customer-maintained list.
  So, on the use interface, the entry specified in line 5 would look as follows: "data with spaces* " "description"
• Line 6 illustrates several of the already mentioned conventions.

Content file for a simple list in xml format

The following is an example of a content file in xml format for a customer-maintained list of the Wildcard Expression type. The list content is the same as in the first example of the preceding subsection.

<content type="regex">
    <listEntry>
        <entry>*.txt</entry>
        <description>txt file extension</description>
    </listEntry>
    <listEntry>
        <entry>*.xml</entry>
        <description>xml file extension</description>
    </listEntry>
</content>

For the content type, the same terms must be used as for a content file in txt format.

Content files for complex lists

Manually creating a content file for a complex customer-maintained list is rather difficult. However, you can use the options of the user interface to export an existing complex list and store it in a file.

In this file, the complex list appears in xml format. If you delete all lines in the file that precede the opening <content> tag and follow the closing </content> tag, you almost get a content file for that complex list.

Then you only need to modify the opening <content> tag to read <content type="<file type>", for example, <content type="nexthopproxy">.

The terms you can use to specify the file type are: ca, extendedlist, icapserver, hostandcertificate, nexthopproxy.