Converting To and From LDIF Representations

This section shows how to use the plug-in API to convert entries that are represented in LDIF to Slapi_Entry structures. This section also shows how to convert Slapi_Entry structures to LDIF strings.

LDIF files appear as a series of human-readable representations of directory entries, and optionally access control instructions. Entries that are represented in LDIF start with a line for the distinguished name. The LDIF representation continues with optional lines for the attributes. The syntax is shown in the following example.

Example 4-2 LDIF Syntax Representing an Entry

dn:[:] dn-value\n
[attribute:[:] value\n]
[attribute:[:] value\n]
[single-space continued-value\n]*

A double colon, ::, indicates that the value is base64-encoded. Base64-encoded values can, for example, have a line break in the midst of an attribute value.

As shown in the preceding example, LDIF lines can be folded by leaving a single space at the beginning of the continued line.

Sample LDIF files can be found in install-path/ldif/.

Refer to Chapter 4, Directory Server LDIF and Search Filters, in Oracle Directory Server Enterprise Edition Reference for details on LDIF syntax.

Converting an LDIF String to a Slapi_Entry Structure

You can achieve this type of conversion by using slapi_str2entry(). The function takes as its two arguments the string to convert and an int holding flag of the form SLAPI_STR2ENTRY_* in slapi-plugin.h. The function returns a pointer to a Slapi_Entry if successful, NULL otherwise, as shown in the following example.

Example 4-3 Converting To and From LDIF Strings (entries.c)

#include "slapi-plugin.h"

#define LDIF_STR "dn: dc=example,dc=com\nobjectclass: \
    top\nobjectclass: domain\ndc: example\n"

int
test_ldif()
{
    char        * ldif  = NULL;        /* Example LDIF string     */
    Slapi_Entry * entry = NULL;        /* Entry to hold LDIF      */
    char        * str   = NULL;        /* String to hold entry    */
    int           len;                 /* Length of entry as LDIF */

    /* LDIF to Slapi_Entry                                        */
    entry = slapi_entry_alloc();
    ldif  = slapi_ch_strdup(LDIF_STR);
    entry = slapi_str2entry(ldif, SLAPI_STR2ENTRY_ADDRDNVALS);
    slapi_ch_free_string(&ldif);
    if (entry == NULL) return (-1);

    /* Slapi_Entry to LDIF                                        */
    str = slapi_entry2str(entry, &len);
    if (str == NULL) return (-1);
    slapi_log_info_ex(
        SLAPI_LOG_INFO_AREA_PLUGIN,
        SLAPI_LOG_INFO_LEVEL_DEFAULT,
        SLAPI_LOG_NO_MSGID,
        SLAPI_LOG_NO_CONNID,
        SLAPI_LOG_NO_OPID,
        "test_ldif in test-entries plug-in",
        "\nOriginal entry:\n%sEntry length: %d\n", str, len
    );

    slapi_entry_free(entry);

    return (0);
}

Here, SLAPI_STR2ENTRY_ADDRDNVALS adds any missing relative distinguished name (RDN) values, as specified in slapi-plugin.h where supported flags for slapi_str2entry() are listed.

Converting a Slapi_Entry Structure to an LDIF String

You can achieve this type of conversion by using slapi_entry2str(). This function takes as its two arguments the entry to convert and an int to hold the length of the string that is returned. The function returns a char * to the LDIF if successful, NULL otherwise, as shown in Example 38–3.