1ldapx(n)                LDAP extended object interface                ldapx(n)
2
3
4
5______________________________________________________________________________
6

NAME

8       ldapx - LDAP extended object interface
9

SYNOPSIS

11       package require Tcl  8.4
12
13       package require ldapx  ?1.1?
14
15       e reset
16
17       e dn ?newdn?
18
19       e rdn
20
21       e superior
22
23       e print
24
25       se isempty
26
27       se get attr
28
29       se get1 attr
30
31       se set attr values
32
33       se set1 attr value
34
35       se add attr values
36
37       se add1 attr value
38
39       se del attr ?values?
40
41       se del1 attr value
42
43       se getattr
44
45       se getall
46
47       se setall avpairs
48
49       se backup ?other?
50
51       se swap
52
53       se restore ?other?
54
55       se apply centry
56
57       ce change ?new?
58
59       ce diff new ?old?
60
61       la error ?newmsg?
62
63       la connect url ?binddn? ?bindpw?
64
65       la disconnect
66
67       la traverse base filter attrs entry body
68
69       la search base filter attrs
70
71       la read base filter entry ... entry
72
73       la commit entry ... entry
74
75       li channel chan
76
77       li error ?newmsg?
78
79       li read entry
80
81       li write entry
82
83______________________________________________________________________________
84

DESCRIPTION

86       The ldapx package provides an extended Tcl interface to LDAP directores
87       and LDIF files. The ldapx package is built upon  the  ldap  package  in
88       order to get low level LDAP access.
89
90       LDAP   access   is   compatible   with  RFC  2251  (http://www.rfc-edi
91       tor.org/rfc/rfc2251.txt).  LDIF access  is  compatible  with  RFC  2849
92       (http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2849.txt).
93

OVERVIEW

95       The  ldapx  package  provides objects to interact with LDAP directories
96       and LDIF files with an easy to use programming  interface.   It  imple‐
97       ments three snit::type classes.
98
99       The  first class, entry, is used to store individual entries.  Two dif‐
100       ferent formats are available: the first one  is  the  standard  format,
101       which represents an entry as read from the directory. The second format
102       is the change format, which stores  differences  between  two  standard
103       entries.
104
105       With  these entries, an application which wants to modify an entry in a
106       directory needs to read a (standard) entry from the directory, create a
107       fresh  copy  into a new (standard) entry, modify the new copy, and then
108       compute the differences between the two entries  into  a  new  (change)
109       entry, which may be commited to the directory.
110
111       Such  kinds  of modifications are so heavily used that standard entries
112       may contain their own copy of the original data. With such a copy,  the
113       application  described  above  reads a (standard) entry from the direc‐
114       tory, backs-up the original data, modifies the entry, and computes  the
115       differences  between  the  entry  and its backup. These differences are
116       then commited to the directory.
117
118       Methods are provided to compute differences  between  two  entries,  to
119       apply  differences  to an entry in order to get a new entry, and to get
120       or set attributes in standard entries.
121
122       The second class is the ldap class. It provides a method to connect and
123       bind  to  the directory with a uniform access to LDAP and LDAPS through
124       an URL (ldap:// or ldaps://). The traverse control structure executes a
125       body  for  each entry found in the directory. The commit method applies
126       some changes (represented as entry objects) to  the  directory.   Since
127       some attributes are represented as UTF-8 strings, the option -utf8 con‐
128       trols which attributes must be converted and which attributes must  not
129       be converted.
130
131       The  last  class is the ldif class. It provides a method to associate a
132       standard Tcl channel to an LDIF object. Then, methods  read  and  write
133       read  or write entries from or to this channel. This class can make use
134       of standard or change entries, according to the type of the  LDIF  file
135       which  may  contain  either standard entries or change entries (but not
136       both at the same time). The option -utf8 works exactly as with the ldap
137       class.
138

ENTRY CLASS

140   ENTRY INSTANCE DATA
141       An instance of the entry class keeps the following data:
142
143       dn     This  is  the DN of the entry, which includes (in LDAP terminol‐
144              ogy) the RDN (relative DN) and the Superior parts.
145
146       format The format may be uninitialized (entry not yet  used),  standard
147              or change. Most methods check the format of the entry, which can
148              be reset with the reset method.
149
150       attrvals
151              In a standard entry, this is where the attributes and associated
152              values are stored. Many methods provide access to these informa‐
153              tions. Attribute names are always converted into lower case.
154
155       backup In a standard entry, the backup may contain a copy of the dn and
156              all attributes and values. Methods backup and restore manipulate
157              these data, and method diff may use this backup.
158
159       change In a change entry, these data represent the modifications.  Such
160              modifications  are  handled by specialized methods such as apply
161              or commit.  Detailed format should not be used directly by  pro‐
162              grams.
163
164              Internally, modifications are represented as a list of elements,
165              each element has one of the following formats (which  match  the
166              corresponding LDAP operations):
167
168              [1]    {add {attr1 {val1...valn} attr2 {...} ...}}
169
170                     Addition of a new entry.
171
172              [2]    {mod  {modop {attr1 ?val1...valn?} attr2 ...} {modop ...}
173                     ...}
174
175                     Modification of one or  more  attributes  and/or  values,
176                     where  <modop>  can be modadd, moddel or modrepl (see the
177                     LDAP modify operation).
178
179              [3]    {del}
180
181                     Deletion of an old entry.
182
183              [4]    {modrdn newrdn deleteoldrdn ?newsuperior?}
184
185                     Renaming of an entry.
186
187   ENTRY OPTIONS
188       No option is defined by this class.
189
190   METHODS FOR ALL KINDS OF ENTRIES
191       e reset
192              This method resets the entry to an uninitialized state.
193
194       e dn ?newdn?
195              This method returns the current DN of the entry. If the optional
196              newdn is specified, it replaces the current DN of the entry.
197
198       e rdn  This method returns the RDN part of the DN of the entry.
199
200       e superior
201              This method returns the superior part of the DN of the entry.
202
203       e print
204              This method returns the entry as a string ready to be printed.
205
206   METHODS FOR STANDARD ENTRIES ONLY
207       In all methods, attribute names are converted in lower case.
208
209       se isempty
210              This  method  returns  1 if the entry is empty (i.e. without any
211              attribute).
212
213       se get attr
214              This method returns all values of the  attribute  attr,  or  the
215              empty list if the attribute is not fond.
216
217       se get1 attr
218              This method returns the first value of the attribute.
219
220       se set attr values
221              This method sets the values (list values) of the attribute attr.
222              If the list is empty, this method deletes all
223
224       se set1 attr value
225              This method sets the values of  the  attribute  attr  to  be  an
226              unique value value. Previous values, if any, are replaced by the
227              new value.
228
229       se add attr values
230              This method adds all elements the list values to the  values  of
231              the attribute attr.
232
233       se add1 attr value
234              This  method adds a single value given by the parameter value to
235              the attribute attr.
236
237       se del attr ?values?
238              If the optional list values is specified,  this  method  deletes
239              all  specified  values from the attribute attr.  If the argument
240              values is not specified, this method deletes all values.
241
242       se del1 attr value
243              This method deletes a unique value from the attribute attr.
244
245       se getattr
246              This method returns all attributes names.
247
248       se getall
249              This method returns all attributes and values  from  the  entry,
250              packed in a list of pairs <attribute, list of values>.
251
252       se setall avpairs
253              This  method  sets at once all attributes and values. The format
254              of the avpairs argument is the  same  as  the  one  returned  by
255              method getall.
256
257       se backup ?other?
258              This  method  stores in an other standard entry object a copy of
259              the current DN and  attributes/values.  If  the  optional  other
260              argument is not specified, copy is done in the current entry (in
261              a specific place, see section OVERVIEW).
262
263       se swap
264              This method swaps the current and backup contexts of the entry.
265
266       se restore ?other?
267              If the optional argument other is given, which must  then  be  a
268              standard  entry, this method restores the current entry into the
269              other entry. If the argument other argument  is  not  specified,
270              this methods restores the current entry from its internal backup
271              (see section OVERVIEW).
272
273       se apply centry
274              This method applies changes  defined  in  the  centry  argument,
275              which must be a change entry.
276
277   METHODS FOR CHANGE ENTRIES ONLY
278       ce change ?new?
279              If  the optional argument new is specified, this method modifies
280              the change list (see subsection  Entry  Instance  Data  for  the
281              exact  format).  In both cases, current change list is returned.
282              Warning: values returned by this method should only be  used  by
283              specialized methods such as apply or commit.
284
285       ce diff new ?old?
286              This  method  computes  the  differences between the new and old
287              entries under the form of a change list, and  stores  this  list
288              into  the  current change entry. If the optional argument old is
289              not specified, difference is computed from  the  entry  and  its
290              internal backup (see section OVERVIEW). Return value is the com‐
291              puted change list.
292
293   ENTRY EXAMPLE
294                  package require ldapx
295
296                  #
297                  # Create an entry and fill it as a standard entry with
298                  # attributes and values
299                  #
300                  ::ldapx::entry create e
301                  e dn "uid=joe,ou=people,o=mycomp"
302                  e set1 "uid"             "joe"
303                  e set  "objectClass"     {person anotherObjectClass}
304                  e set1 "givenName"       "Joe"
305                  e set1 "sn"              "User"
306                  e set  "telephoneNumber" {+31415926535 +2182818}
307                  e set1 "anotherAttr"     "This is a beautiful day, isn't it?"
308
309                  puts stdout "e\n[e print]"
310
311                  #
312                  # Create a second entry as a backup of the first, and
313                  # make some changes on it.
314                  # Entry is named automatically by snit.
315                  #
316
317                  set b [::ldapx::entry create %AUTO%]
318                  e backup $b
319
320                  puts stdout "$b\n[$b print]"
321
322                  $b del  "anotherAttr"
323                  $b del1 "objectClass" "anotherObjectClass"
324
325                  #
326                  # Create a change entry, a compute differences between first
327                  # and second entry.
328                  #
329
330                  ::ldapx::entry create c
331                  c diff e $b
332
333                  puts stdout "$c\n[$c print]"
334
335                  #
336                  # Apply changes to first entry. It should be the same as the
337                  # second entry, now.
338                  #
339
340                  e apply c
341
342                  ::ldapx::entry create nc
343                  nc diff e $b
344
345                  puts stdout "nc\n[nc print]"
346
347                  #
348                  # Clean-up
349                  #
350
351                  e destroy
352                  $b destroy
353                  c destroy
354                  nc destroy
355
356

LDAP CLASS

358   LDAP INSTANCE DATA
359       An instance of the ldap class keeps the following data:
360
361       channel
362              This is the channel used by the ldap package  for  communication
363              with the LDAP server.
364
365       lastError
366              This  variable  contains the error message which appeared in the
367              last method of the ldap class (this string is modified in nearly
368              all  methods).  The  error method may be used to fetch this mes‐
369              sage.
370
371   LDAP OPTIONS
372       A first set of options of the ldap class is used during  search  opera‐
373       tions (methods traverse, search and read, see below).
374
375       -scope base|one|sub
376              Specify  the  scope of the LDAP search to be one of base, one or
377              sub to specify a base object, one-level or subtree search.
378
379              The default is sub.
380
381       -derefaliases never|seach|find|always
382              Specify how aliases dereferencing is handled: never is  used  to
383              specify  that  aliases are never derefenced, always that aliases
384              are always derefenced, search that aliases are dereferenced when
385              searching,  or  find  that  aliases  are dereferenced only  when
386              locating  the  base object for the search.
387
388              The default is never.
389
390       -sizelimit integer
391              Specify the maximum number of entries to be retreived  during  a
392              search. A value of 0 means no limit.
393
394              Default is 0.
395
396       -timelimit integer
397              Specify  the  time limit for a search to complete.  A value of 0
398              means no limit.
399
400              Default is 0.
401
402       -attrsonly 0|1
403              Specify if only attribute names are to be retrieved  (value  1).
404              Normally (value 0), attribute values are also retrieved.
405
406              Default is 0.
407
408       The  last  option is used when getting entries or committing changes in
409       the directory:
410
411       -utf8 pattern-yes pattern-no
412              Specify which attribute values are encoded in UTF-8. This infor‐
413              mation is specific to the LDAP schema in use by the application,
414              since some attributes such as jpegPhoto, for  example,  are  not
415              encoded  in UTF-8. This option takes the form of a list with two
416              regular expressions suitable for the regexp command (anchored by
417              ^  and  $).  The first specifies which attribute names are to be
418              UTF-8  encoded,  and  the  second  selects,  among  those,   the
419              attribute  names  which  will  not be UTF-8 encoded.  It is thus
420              possible to say: convert all attributes, except jpegPhoto.
421
422              Default is {{.*} {}}, meaning:  all  attributes  are  converted,
423              without exception.
424
425   LDAP METHODS
426       la error ?newmsg?
427              This  method returns the error message that occurred in the last
428              call to a ldap class method. If the optional argument newmsg  is
429              supplied, it becomes the last error message.
430
431       la connect url ?binddn? ?bindpw?
432              This  method  connects to the LDAP server using given URL (which
433              can be of the form ldap://host:port or ldaps://host:port). If an
434              optional binddn argument is given together with the bindpw argu‐
435              ment, the connect binds to the LDAP server using  the  specified
436              DN and password.
437
438       la disconnect
439              This  method  disconnects  (and  unbinds, if necessary) from the
440              LDAP server.
441
442       la traverse base filter attrs entry body
443              This method is a new control structure.  It  searches  the  LDAP
444              directory  from  the  specified base DN (given by the base argu‐
445              ment) and selects entries based on the argument filter. For each
446              entry  found,  this  method  fetches attributes specified by the
447              attrs argument (or all attributes  if  it  is  an  empty  list),
448              stores  them  in  the entry instance of class entry and executes
449              the script defined by the argument body.  Options  are  used  to
450              refine the search.
451
452              Caution:  when  this method is used, the script body cannot per‐
453              form another LDAP search (methods traverse, search or read).
454
455       la search base filter attrs
456              This method searches the directory using the same way as  method
457              traverse.   All  found  entries  are  stored  in  newly  created
458              instances of class entry, which are  returned  in  a  list.  The
459              newly  created  instances  should  be destroyed when they are no
460              longer used.
461
462       la read base filter entry ... entry
463              This method reads one or more entries,  using  the  same  search
464              criteria  as  methods  traverse  and search.  All attributes are
465              stored in the entries. This method provides a quick way to  read
466              some  entries.  It  returns  the  number of entries found in the
467              directory (which may be more than the number of  read  entries).
468              If  called  without any entry argument, this method just returns
469              the number of entries found, without returning any data.
470
471       la commit entry ... entry
472              This method commits the changes stored in the  entry  arguments.
473              Each  entry  may  be  either a change entry, or a standard entry
474              with a backup.
475
476              Note: in the future, this method should use the LDAP transaction
477              extension provided by OpenLDAP 2.3 and later.
478
479   LDAP EXAMPLE
480                  package require ldapx
481
482                  #
483                  # Connects to the LDAP directory
484                  #
485
486                  ::ldapx::ldap create l
487                  set url "ldap://server.mycomp.com"
488                  if {! [l connect $url "cn=admin,o=mycomp" "mypasswd"]} then {
489                puts stderr "error: [l error]"
490                exit 1
491                  }
492
493                  #
494                  # Search all entries matching some criterion
495                  #
496
497                  l configure -scope one
498                  ::ldapx::entry create e
499                  set n 0
500                  l traverse "ou=people,o=mycomp" "(sn=Joe*)" {sn givenName} e {
501                puts "dn: [e dn]"
502                puts "  sn:        [e get1 sn]"
503                puts "  givenName: [e get1 givenName]"
504                incr n
505                  }
506                  puts "$n entries found"
507                  e destroy
508
509                  #
510                  # Add a telephone number to some entries
511                  # Note this modification cannot be done in the "traverse" operation.
512                  #
513
514                  set lent [l search "ou=people,o=mycomp" "(sn=Joe*)" {}]
515                  ::ldapx::entry create c
516                  foreach e $lent {
517                $e backup
518                $e add1 "telephoneNumber" "+31415926535"
519                c diff $e
520                if {! [l commit c]} then {
521                    puts stderr "error: [l error]"
522                    exit 1
523                }
524                $e destroy
525                  }
526                  c destroy
527
528                  l disconnect
529                  l destroy
530
531

LDIF CLASS

533   LDIF INSTANCE DATA
534       An instance of the ldif class keeps the following data:
535
536       channel
537              This is the Tcl channel used to retrieve or store LDIF file con‐
538              tents. The association between an instance and a channel is made
539              by the method channel. There is no need to disrupt this associa‐
540              tion when the LDIF file operation has ended.
541
542       format LDIF files may contain standard entries or change  entries,  but
543              not both. This variable contains the detected format of the file
544              (when reading) or the format of  entries  written  to  the  file
545              (when writing).
546
547       lastError
548              This  variable  contains the error message which appeared in the
549              last method of the ldif class (this string is modified in nearly
550              all  methods).  The  error method may be used to fetch this mes‐
551              sage.
552
553       version
554              This is the version of the LDIF file. Only  version  1  is  sup‐
555              ported:  the method read can only read from version 1 files, and
556              method write only creates version 1 files.
557
558   LDIF OPTIONS
559       This class defines two options:
560
561       -ignore list-of-attributes
562              This option is used to ignore certain attribute names  on  read‐
563              ing.  For  example, to read OpenLDAP replica files (replog), one
564              must ignore replica and time attributes since they do  not  con‐
565              form to the RFC 2849 standard for LDIF files.
566
567              Default is empty list: no attribute is ignored.
568
569       -utf8 pattern-yes pattern-no
570              Specify which attribute values are encoded in UTF-8. This infor‐
571              mation is specific to the LDAP schema in use by the application,
572              since  some  attributes  such as jpegPhoto, for example, are not
573              encoded in UTF-8. This option takes the form of a list with  two
574              regular expressions suitable for the regexp command (anchored by
575              ^ and $).  The first specifies which attribute names are  to  be
576              UTF-8   encoded,  and  the  second  selects,  among  those,  the
577              attribute names which will not be UTF-8  encoded.   It  is  thus
578              possible to say: convert all attributes, except jpegPhoto.
579
580              Default  is  {{.*}  {}},  meaning: all attributes are converted,
581              without exception.
582
583   LDIF METHODS
584       li channel chan
585              This method associates the Tcl channel named chan with the  LDIF
586              instance. It resets the type of LDIF object to uninitialized.
587
588       li error ?newmsg?
589              This  method returns the error message that occurred in the last
590              call to a ldif class method. If the optional argument newmsg  is
591              supplied, it becomes the last error message.
592
593       li read entry
594              This  method  reads the next entry from the LDIF file and stores
595              it in the entry object of class entry.  The entry may be a stan‐
596              dard or change entry.
597
598       li write entry
599              This  method writes the entry given in the argument entry to the
600              LDIF file.
601
602   LDIF EXAMPLE
603                  package require ldapx
604
605                  # This examples reads a LDIF file containing entries,
606                  # compare them to a LDAP directory, and writes on standard
607                  # output an LDIF file containing changes to apply to the
608                  # LDAP directory to match exactly the LDIF file.
609
610                  ::ldapx::ldif create liin
611                  liin channel stdin
612
613                  ::ldapx::ldif create liout
614                  liout channel stdout
615
616                  ::ldapx::ldap create la
617                  if {! [la connect "ldap://server.mycomp.com"]} then {
618                puts stderr "error: [la error]"
619                exit 1
620                  }
621                  la configure -scope one
622
623                  # Reads LDIF file
624
625                  ::ldapx::entry create e1
626                  ::ldapx::entry create e2
627                  ::ldapx::entry create c
628
629                  while {[liin read e1] != 0} {
630                set base [e1 superior]
631                set id [e1 rdn]
632                if {[la read $base "($id)" e2] == 0} then {
633                    e2 reset
634                }
635
636                c diff e1 e2
637                if {[llength [c change]] != 0} then {
638                    liout write c
639                }
640                  }
641
642                  la disconnect
643                  la destroy
644                  e1 destroy
645                  e2 destroy
646                  c destroy
647                  liout destroy
648                  liin destroy
649
650

REFERENCES

BUGS, IDEAS, FEEDBACK

653       This document, and the package it describes, will  undoubtedly  contain
654       bugs  and  other  problems.  Please report such in the category ldap of
655       the  Tcllib  Trackers  [http://core.tcl.tk/tcllib/reportlist].   Please
656       also  report any ideas for enhancements you may have for either package
657       and/or documentation.
658
659       When proposing code changes, please provide unified diffs, i.e the out‐
660       put of diff -u.
661
662       Note  further  that  attachments  are  strongly  preferred over inlined
663       patches. Attachments can be made by going  to  the  Edit  form  of  the
664       ticket  immediately  after  its  creation, and then using the left-most
665       button in the secondary navigation bar.
666

KEYWORDS

668       directory access, internet, ldap,  ldap  client,  ldif,  protocol,  rfc
669       2251, rfc 2849
670

CATEGORY

672       Networking
673
675       Copyright (c) 2006-2018 Pierre David <pdav@users.sourceforge.net>
676
677
678
679
680tcllib                                1.1                             ldapx(n)
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