Customizing TAM Dropdown lists

One of the most frequent questions we get is that someone is using a technology that is not listed in the “Technology” drop downs and how can they customize it. Most of the dropdowns are part of the metadata system in the tool and are stored in an XML file in the user’s profile. Fortunately, the v2.1.2 release of the tool contains UI to edit this. The following steps will allow you to customize the list.

1. Go to “Tools” Menu and select “Options” and go to “Metadata Editor” tab. 
   
2. From the “List Name:” drop down select “Technology”.
   
3. Enter the new technology and click “Add” to add it to the list.
   
4. Click “Save” to save the list to the XML file. Note that after saving the list, if you are already on a Component, you might have switch to a different item and back to the Component to reflect the changes.

The above steps can be used to add items to any of the following drop down lists in the tool:

Item Type	Property Name
Role	Authentication Mechanism
Role	Approximate number of Identities (Weight)
Data	Data Classification
Component	Technology
Component	Service Type

Any new item in the dropdown if selected in any Role/Data/Component will be saved with the threat model. If you get a threat model with new items in it, the new items will automatically be synchronized with your list. You can also manually synchronize the lists from the opened threat model by going to the “Tools” menu and selecting “Synchronize Lists”. Select the appropriate list properties and click “Save”.

If you want to edit the XML file manually, you can find it at %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\TAM\Temp\AppLists.xml.

Thanks
Anil Revuru