---
alias: user-guide-automation-converter-stringtoentityinstance
description: "This tool generates a basic MES object skeleton based on a provided name or ID"
---

# Create System Entity Instance

This converter creates a MES object skeleton only with the name or ID defined as the input value. It natively supports the entity types **Resource**, **Container**, **Material**, **Data Collection**, but can also receive custom types.

## Settings

| Name | Data Type | Possible Values | Description |
|-------- | ----------- | ----------- | ----------- |
| Type | `Enum` | `Entity`<br />`Custom` | Type of entity instance |
| Entity Type | `Enum` | `Resource`<br />`Container`<br />`Material`<br />`DataCollection` | Type of entity skeleton to create |
| Custom Type | `String` |  | Text to use as `$type` when Type is `Custom`. It is ignored when `entityType` is set to a built-in entity |
|Identifier | `Enum` | `Name`<br />`Id` | The placeholder that will receive the input value |

Table 1: Settings

![Converter details](images/converter_wizard.png)

## Examples

| Input                | `entityType`     | `customType` | `identifier` | Output `$type`                                                         | Output field          |
| -------------------- | ---------------- | ------------ | ------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------- |
| `resourceName`       | `Resource`       | N/A          | `Name`       | `Cmf.Navigo.BusinessObjects.Resource, Cmf.Navigo.BusinessObjects`       | `Name: resourceName`  |
| `resourceId`         | `Resource`       | N/A          | `Id`         | `Cmf.Navigo.BusinessObjects.Resource, Cmf.Navigo.BusinessObjects`       | `Id: resourceId`      |
| `containerName`      | `Container`      | N/A          | `Name`       | `Cmf.Navigo.BusinessObjects.Container, Cmf.Navigo.BusinessObjects`      | `Name: containerName` |
| `materialName`       | `Material`       | N/A          | `Name`       | `Cmf.Navigo.BusinessObjects.Material, Cmf.Navigo.BusinessObjects`       | `Name: materialName`  |
| `dataCollectionName` | `DataCollection` | N/A          | `Name`       | `Cmf.Navigo.BusinessObjects.DataCollection, Cmf.Navigo.BusinessObjects` | `Name: dataCollectionName` |
| `somethingName`      | `Custom`         | `Something`  | `Name`       | `Something`                                                             | `Name: somethingName` |
| `somethingId`        | `Custom`         | `Something`  | `Id`         | `Something`                                                             | `Id: somethingId`     |

Table 2: Examples

When `entityType` is set to a built-in entity, `customType` is ignored - for example, `entityType = DataCollection` together with `customType = "Something"` still produces `$type = Cmf.Navigo.BusinessObjects.DataCollection, ...`.

### Invalid Configuration

The converter never fails - invalid settings are **logged as errors** and an object is still produced, which may cause problems further down when the malformed `$type` (or missing `Name`/`Id`) reaches MES. This is the **Log and continue** failure pattern; see [[user-guide-automation-converters-index]] for how it compares to other converters.

| `entityType`       | `customType` | `identifier`   | Output                                             |
| ------------------ | ------------ | -------------- | -------------------------------------------------- |
| `Custom`           | *(empty)*    | any            | `{ "$type": "" }` (error logged: *The field customType must not be empty if Entity Type is Custom*) |
| unrecognized value | any          | any            | `{ "$type": "Unknown" }` (error logged: *Unknown entity type to convert "..."*) |
| any                | any          | unrecognized   | object without `Name` or `Id` (error logged: *Unknown identifier "..."*). |

Table 3: Invalid Configuration