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.

SAML2Base64AttributeEncoder

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Last updated: Nov 14, 2010Version comment

SAML 2 Base64 Attribute Encoder

The SAML 2 Base64 attribute encoder creates SAML 2 <Attribute> elements from resolved attributes with <AttributeValue> elements for each value. The content of these <AttributeValue> elements is a Base64 encoded byte array. This encoder is only used for SAML 2 messages and will be ignored when the IdP is answering other protocol messages.

Please Note

  • The LDAP data connector will Base 64 encode values of attributes that are marked as binary (see Other Connection Properties) so you should use a normal string attribute encoder for such attributes.
  • This encoder only operates on attributes whose values are byte arrays. It will not attempt convert values of other types into a byte array.

Define the Encoder

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

To define a new SAML 2 Base64 attribute encoder, create a <resolver:AttributeEncoder xsi:type="SAML2Base64" xmlns="urn:mace:shibboleth:2.0:attribute:encoder"> with the following required attributes:

  • 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 Base64 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="DEFINITION_ID_2" />
     <resolver:Dependency ref="CONNECTOR_ID_3" />
     <resolver:Dependency ref="CONNECTOR_ID_4" />

     <resolver:AttributeEncoder xsi:type="SAML2Base64" 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> elements with different names, name formats, or friendly names.