Handling the Extended Operation

The plug-in function test_extendedop() gets the OID and value for the operation from the client request. The function then sends the client a response, as shown in Developing the Extended Operation Client.

Notice how the function obtains the OID and value from the request by using SLAPI_EXT_OP_REQ_OID and SLAPI_EXT_OP_REQ_VALUE. The function then uses slapi_ch_malloc() to construct a string to return to the client through the pointer to a berval structure, result_bval. A different extended operation plug-in might do something entirely different at this point.

Also notice that the function sends a different OID back to the client than the OID in the client request. The OID that is sent back can be used to indicate a particular result to the client, for example. The function uses slapi_send_ldap_result() to indicate success as well as to send the OID and value to the client. The function then frees the memory that was allocated. Finally, the function returns SLAPI_PLUGIN_EXTENDED_SENT_RESULT to indicate to Directory Server that processing of the plug-in function is complete.

If the function had not sent a result code to the client, it would return an LDAP result code to Directory Server. Directory Server would then send the result code to the client.

If the function cannot handle the extended operation with the specified OID, the function returns SLAPI_PLUGIN_EXTENDED_NOT_HANDLED. Then Directory Server sends an LDAP_PROTOCOL_ERROR result code to the client.