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Netscape LDAP SDK for C LDAP SDK for C |
Preface
The LDAP SDK for C Programmer's Guide documents the Netscape LDAP SDK for C, a software development kit (SDK) for writing Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) client applications. This SDK supports the The C LDAP Application Program Interface Internet-Draft. The draft is a formal description of the C language API for LDAP.The Netscape LDAP SDK for C includes the C libraries for the LDAP application programming interface (API). You use the functions contained in this API to enable your applications to connect to, search, and update LDAP servers located on a network or on the Internet. For a more detailed explanation of LDAP, see Chapter 2 "An Introduction to LDAP."
This Preface contains the following sections:
What You Are Expected to Know
What You Are Expected to Know
This guide is intended for use by C and C++ programmers who want to enable new or existing client applications to connect to LDAP servers. The functionality contained in the LDAP SDK for C allows you to search and update databases that are managed by LDAP servers. This book assumes that you are familiar with writing and compiling C applications on the platform(s) that you want to implement your client applications.
About This Release
The Netscape LDAP SDK for C, v4.1 has been updated to provide even more support for LDAPv3 than the previous 4.0 release. For details on the new features, refer to the Release Notes that accompany the SDK and the ldap.h header file.While this manual has been updated to cover many of the new features contained this release, there are several areas of functionality that have not been fully documented. In particular, documentation is forthcoming for the Netscape UTF8 extensions and the LDAPv3 extended I/O callback interface.
Deprecated Functions
Although several functions have been deprecated in this release of the LDAP SDK for C, the SDK still supports these deprecated functions for backward compatibility. The following table outlines some of the deprecated functions and the functions you should use in their place whenever you write new code. For more information on the functions that have been deprecated, refer to the ldap.h header file and the most recent C LDAP API Internet Draft.
Organization of This Guide
This guide explains how to use the Netscape LDAP SDK for C to enable applications to interact with LDAP servers. The guide documents the LDAP API, which consists of data structures and functions used to communicate with LDAP servers.This manual is divided into four parts:
Part 1, "Getting Started," explains how you can use the LDAP SDK for C to enable your applications for LDAP.
Table 2 details the chapters contained in the book:Part 2, "Writing Clients with the Netscape LDAP SDK for C," explains how you can use the LDAP SDK for C to enable your applications for LDAP communications.
Part 3, "Advanced Topics," contains additional material that you might need, including descriptions of entries and attributes.
Part 4, "Reference," describes each data structure, function, and status code in the LDAP API.
Documentation Conventions
This book uses the following font conventions:
Monospace type is used for all sample code and code listings.
Monospace type is also used within paragraph text to represent language elements (such as function names and class names), reserved names, filenames, pathnames, directory names, HTML tags, and any text that must be typed at a terminal.
Italic serif font is used within code and language elements to indicate variable placeholders. For example, in the following command, filename is a variable placeholder:
Italic type is used within paragraph text for book titles, emphasis, variables, and placeholders.
- gunzip filename.tar.gz
Where to Find Additional Information
Netscape and iPlanet provide binary releases of this SDK. However, note that this SDK is also available in source code form as part of the Mozilla.org open source project. Refer to the following site for more information on how you can get the source code and contribute to the further development of this SDK:http://www.mozilla.org/directory
Related Information
The following table lists several sources of information on LDAP and its associated technologies. Note that some of the links in this table are time-sensitve and the drafts might expire.
Table 3    Sources of information on LDAP and associated protocols
RFC or Internet-Draft / Internet Location
Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (v2), RFC 1777
http://info.internet.isi.edu:80/in-notes/rfc/files/rfc1777.txtLightweight Directory Access Protocol (v3), RFC 2251
http://info.internet.isi.edu:80/in-notes/rfc/files/rfc2251.txtThe C LDAP Application Program Interface, Internet-Draft Revision 5
http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-ldapext-ldap-c-api-05.txtLDAP Control Extension for Server Side Sorting of Search Results, RFC 2891
ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc2891.txtSimple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL), RFC 2222
http://info.internet.isi.edu:80/in-notes/rfc/files/rfc2222.txtSecure Sockets Layer (SSL) Protocol (v3), Internet-Draft Revision 3
http://home.netscape.com/eng/ssl3/ssl-toc.htmlAccess Control Model for LDAPv3, Internet-Draft Revision 6
http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-ldapext-acl-model-06.txtLDAP Extensions for Scrolling View Browsing of Search Results, Internet-Draft Revision 4
http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-ldapext-ldapv3-vlv-04.txtLDAP Control Extension for Server Side Sorting of Search Results
http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-ldapext-sorting-00.txtLDAP Proxied Authorization Control, Revision 5
http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-weltman-ldapv3-proxy-05.txtLDAP Authentication Response Control, Internet-Draft Revision 1
http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-weltman-ldapv3-auth-response-01.txtPersistent Search: A Simple LDAP Change Notification Mechanism, Internet-Draft Revision 2
http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-ldapext-psearch-02.txtNetscape Portable Runtime Library
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/nspr
iPlanet Technical Documentation
In addition to these sources of information, you can find addition information on the LDAP protocol, the iPlanet Directory Server, and its associated technologies at the following iPlanet development site:http://developer.iplanet.com/tech/directory/index.html
You can also find information on the LDAP protocol in the documentation for the iPlanet Directory Server. These documents, along with the installation instructions, release notes, and documentation for all iPlanet and Netscape servers, can be found at the following location:
http://docs.iplanet.com/docs/manuals/index.html
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Copyright © 2000 Sun Microsystems, Inc. Some preexisting portions Copyright © 2000 Netscape Communications Corp. All rights reserved.
Last Updated November 16, 2000