Mapping Transformations

The most common transformation is a bidirectional (mapping) transformation. A mapping transformation is applied during the request, and its inverse is applied during the response. These transformations are called mappings because in effect, an attribute or entry in the physical data view maps to an attribute or entry in the virtual data view. Mapping transformations enable you to process existing values before assigning them to a DN component, an attribute type or value, or an object class.

The following diagram illustrates the principals of a mapping transformation.

Figure 18–2 Mapping Transformation

A mapping transformation is defined on a data view, by running the dpconf command as follows:

$ dpconf add-virtual-transformation -h host -p port -D bindDN /
view-name mapping action attr-name [parameters]

Example 18–1 When Would You Use a Mapping Transformation?

Imagine, for example, an organization has a physical data source that contains entries with the attributes surname and givename. The organization has a client application that requires entries to have a cn (common name) attribute of the form givenname surname.

The client application sends a search request for an entry of the form cn=Carlos Fuentes. A transformation is defined that extracts the name and surname during this request and transforms the request to one of the form surname=Fuentes, givenname=Carlos. The corresponding entry is located in the data source. Before returning this entry to the client application, the inverse transformation is performed. The client application receives the entry as cn=Carlos Fuentes, which it understands.

This request is transformed to be of the form surname=Fuentes, givenname=Carlos. Similarly, the client application sends a modify request to change the cn attribute of an entry to Lisa Davis. The request is transformed so that the givenname attribute of the physical entry is modified to Lisa and the surname attribute is modified to Davis.