[comment {-*- tcl -*- doctools manpage}] [comment {$Id: ldapx.man,v 1.14 2009/01/29 06:16:19 andreas_kupries Exp $}] [manpage_begin ldapx n 0.2.5] [copyright {2006 Pierre David }] [moddesc {LDAP extended object interface}] [titledesc {LDAP extended object interface}] [category Networking] [require Tcl 8.4] [require ldapx [opt 1.0]] [description] [para] The [package ldapx] package provides an extended Tcl interface to LDAP directores and LDIF files. The [package ldapx] package is built upon the [package ldap] package in order to get low level LDAP access. [para] LDAP access is compatible with RFC 2251 ([uri http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2251.txt]). LDIF access is compatible with RFC 2849 ([uri http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2849.txt]). [section OVERVIEW] The [package ldapx] package provides objects to interact with LDAP directories and LDIF files with an easy to use programming interface. It implements three [package snit]::type classes. [para] The first class, [class entry], is used to store individual entries. Two different formats are available: the first one is the [emph standard] format, which represents an entry as read from the directory. The second format is the [emph change] format, which stores differences between two standard entries. [para] With these entries, an application which wants to modify an entry in a directory needs to read a (standard) entry from the directory, create a fresh copy into a new (standard) entry, modify the new copy, and then compute the differences between the two entries into a new (change) entry, which may be commited to the directory. [para] Such kinds of modifications are so heavily used that standard entries may contain their own copy of the original data. With such a copy, the application described above reads a (standard) entry from the directory, backs-up the original data, modifies the entry, and computes the differences between the entry and its backup. These differences are then commited to the directory. [para] Methods are provided to compute differences between two entries, to apply differences to an entry in order to get a new entry, and to get or set attributes in standard entries. [para] The second class is the [class ldap] class. It provides a method to [method connect] and bind to the directory with a uniform access to LDAP and LDAPS through an URL (ldap:// or ldaps://). The [method traverse] control structure executes a body for each entry found in the directory. The [method commit] method applies some changes (represented as [class entry] objects) to the directory. Since some attributes are represented as UTF-8 strings, the option [option -utf8] controls which attributes must be converted and which attributes must not be converted. [para] The last class is the [class ldif] class. It provides a method to associate a standard Tcl [emph channel] to an LDIF object. Then, methods [method read] and [method write] read or write entries from or to this channel. This class can make use of standard or change entries, according to the type of the LDIF file which may contain either standard entries or change entries (but not both at the same time). The option [option -utf8] works exactly as with the [class ldap] class. [section {ENTRY CLASS}] [subsection {Entry Instance Data}] An instance of the [class entry] class keeps the following data: [list_begin definitions] [def dn] This is the DN of the entry, which includes (in LDAP terminology) the RDN (relative DN) and the Superior parts. [def format] The format may be [emph uninitialized] (entry not yet used), [emph standard] or [emph change]. Most methods check the format of the entry, which can be reset with the [method reset] method. [def attrvals] In a [emph standard] entry, this is where the attributes and associated values are stored. Many methods provide access to these informations. Attribute names are always converted into lower case. [def backup] In a [emph standard] entry, the backup may contain a copy of the dn and all attributes and values. Methods [method backup] and [method restore] manipulate these data, and method [method diff] may use this backup. [def change] In a [emph change] entry, these data represent the modifications. Such modifications are handled by specialized methods such as [method apply] or [method commit]. Detailed format should not be used directly by programs. [para] Internally, modifications are represented as a list of elements, each element has one of the following formats (which match the corresponding LDAP operations): [list_begin enumerated] [enum] {[const add] {attr1 {val1...valn} attr2 {...} ...}} [para] Addition of a new entry. [enum] {[const mod] {modop {attr1 [opt val1...valn]} attr2 ...} {modop ...} ...} [para] Modification of one or more attributes and/or values, where can be [const modadd], [const moddel] or [const modrepl] (see the LDAP modify operation). [enum] {[const del]} [para] Deletion of an old entry. [enum] {[const modrdn] newrdn deleteoldrdn [opt newsuperior]} [para] Renaming of an entry. [list_end] [list_end] [subsection {Entry Options}] No option is defined by this class. [subsection {Methods for all kinds of entries}] [list_begin definitions] [call [arg e] [method reset]] This method resets the entry to an uninitialized state. [call [arg e] [method dn] [opt [arg newdn]]] This method returns the current DN of the entry. If the optional [arg newdn] is specified, it replaces the current DN of the entry. [call [arg e] [method rdn]] This method returns the RDN part of the DN of the entry. [call [arg e] [method superior]] This method returns the superior part of the DN of the entry. [call [arg e] [method print]] This method returns the entry as a string ready to be printed. [list_end] [para] [subsection {Methods for standard entries only}] In all methods, attribute names are converted in lower case. [list_begin definitions] [call [arg se] [method isempty]] This method returns 1 if the entry is empty (i.e. without any attribute). [call [arg se] [method get] [arg attr]] This method returns all values of the attribute [arg attr], or the empty list if the attribute is not fond. [call [arg se] [method get1] [arg attr]] This method returns the first value of the attribute. [call [arg se] [method set] [arg attr] [arg values]] This method sets the values (list [arg values]) of the attribute [arg attr]. If the list is empty, this method deletes all [call [arg se] [method set1] [arg attr] [arg value]] This method sets the values of the attribute [arg attr] to be an unique value [arg value]. Previous values, if any, are replaced by the new value. [call [arg se] [method add] [arg attr] [arg values]] This method adds all elements the list [arg values] to the values of the attribute [arg attr]. [call [arg se] [method add1] [arg attr] [arg value]] This method adds a single value given by the parameter [arg value] to the attribute [arg attr]. [call [arg se] [method del] [arg attr] [opt [arg values]]] If the optional list [arg values] is specified, this method deletes all specified values from the attribute [arg attr]. If the argument [arg values] is not specified, this method deletes all values. [call [arg se] [method del1] [arg attr] [arg value]] This method deletes a unique [arg value] from the attribute [arg attr]. [call [arg se] [method getattr]] This method returns all attributes names. [call [arg se] [method getall]] This method returns all attributes and values from the entry, packed in a list of pairs . [call [arg se] [method setall] [arg avpairs]] This method sets at once all attributes and values. The format of the [arg avpairs] argument is the same as the one returned by method [method getall]. [call [arg se] [method backup] [opt [arg other]]] This method stores in an [arg other] standard entry object a copy of the current DN and attributes/values. If the optional [arg other] argument is not specified, copy is done in the current entry (in a specific place, see section [sectref OVERVIEW]). [call [arg se] [method swap]] This method swaps the current and backup contexts of the entry. [call [arg se] [method restore] [opt [arg other]]] If the optional argument [arg other] is given, which must then be a [emph standard] entry, this method restores the current entry into the [arg other] entry. If the argument [arg other] argument is not specified, this methods restores the current entry from its internal backup (see section [sectref OVERVIEW]). [call [arg se] [method apply] [arg centry]] This method applies changes defined in the [arg centry] argument, which must be a [emph change] entry. [list_end] [subsection {Methods for change entries only}] [list_begin definitions] [call [arg ce] [method change] [opt [arg new]]] If the optional argument [arg new] is specified, this method modifies the change list (see subsection [sectref {Entry Instance Data}] for the exact format). In both cases, current change list is returned. Warning: values returned by this method should only be used by specialized methods such as [method apply] or [method commit]. [call [arg ce] [method diff] [arg new] [opt [arg old]]] This method computes the differences between the [arg new] and [arg old] entries under the form of a change list, and stores this list into the current [emph change] entry. If the optional argument [arg old] is not specified, difference is computed from the entry and its internal backup (see section [sectref OVERVIEW]). Return value is the computed change list. [list_end] [subsection {Entry Example}] [example { package require ldapx # # Create an entry and fill it as a standard entry with # attributes and values # ::ldapx::entry create e e dn "uid=joe,ou=people,o=mycomp" e set1 "uid" "joe" e set "objectClass" {person anotherObjectClass} e set1 "givenName" "Joe" e set1 "sn" "User" e set "telephoneNumber" {+31415926535 +2182818} e set1 "anotherAttr" "This is a beautiful day, isn't it?" puts stdout "e\n[e print]" # # Create a second entry as a backup of the first, and # make some changes on it. # Entry is named automatically by snit. # set b [::ldapx::entry create %AUTO%] e backup $b puts stdout "$b\n[$b print]" $b del "anotherAttr" $b del1 "objectClass" "anotherObjectClass" # # Create a change entry, a compute differences between first # and second entry. # ::ldapx::entry create c c diff e $b puts stdout "$c\n[$c print]" # # Apply changes to first entry. It should be the same as the # second entry, now. # e apply c ::ldapx::entry create nc nc diff e $b puts stdout "nc\n[nc print]" # # Clean-up # e destroy $b destroy c destroy nc destroy }] [section {LDAP CLASS}] [subsection {Ldap Instance Data}] An instance of the [class ldap] class keeps the following data: [list_begin definitions] [def channel] This is the channel used by the [package ldap] package for communication with the LDAP server. [def lastError] This variable contains the error message which appeared in the last method of the [class ldap] class (this string is modified in nearly all methods). The [method error] method may be used to fetch this message. [list_end] [subsection {Ldap Options}] A first set of options of the [class ldap] class is used during search operations (methods [method traverse], [method search] and [method read], see below). [list_begin options] [opt_def -scope [const base]|[const one]|[const sub]] Specify the scope of the LDAP search to be one of [const base], [const one] or [const sub] to specify a base object, one-level or subtree search. [para] The default is [const sub]. [opt_def -derefaliases [const never]|[const seach]|[const find]|[const always]] Specify how aliases dereferencing is handled: [const never] is used to specify that aliases are never derefenced, [const always] that aliases are always derefenced, [const search] that aliases are dereferenced when searching, or [const find] that aliases are dereferenced only when locating the base object for the search. [para] The default is [const never]. [opt_def -sizelimit integer] Specify the maximum number of entries to be retreived during a search. A value of [const 0] means no limit. [para] Default is [const 0]. [opt_def -timelimit integer] Specify the time limit for a search to complete. A value of [const 0] means no limit. [para] Default is [const 0]. [opt_def -attrsonly [const 0]|[const 1]] Specify if only attribute names are to be retrieved (value [const 1]). Normally (value [const 0]), attribute values are also retrieved. [para] Default is [const 0]. [list_end] [para] The last option is used when getting entries or committing changes in the directory: [list_begin options] [opt_def -utf8 {pattern-yes pattern-no}] Specify which attribute values are encoded in UTF-8. This information is specific to the LDAP schema in use by the application, since some attributes such as jpegPhoto, for example, are not encoded in UTF-8. This option takes the form of a list with two regular expressions suitable for the [cmd regexp] command (anchored by ^ and $). The first specifies which attribute names are to be UTF-8 encoded, and the second selects, among those, the attribute names which will not be UTF-8 encoded. It is thus possible to say: convert all attributes, except jpegPhoto. [para] Default is {{.*} {}}, meaning: all attributes are converted, without exception. [list_end] [subsection {Ldap Methods}] [list_begin definitions] [call [arg la] [method error] [opt [arg newmsg]]] This method returns the error message that occurred in the last call to a [class ldap] class method. If the optional argument [arg newmsg] is supplied, it becomes the last error message. [call [arg la] [method connect] [arg url] [opt [arg binddn]] [opt [arg bindpw]]] This method connects to the LDAP server using given URL (which can be of the form [uri ldap://host:port] or [uri ldaps://host:port]). If an optional [arg binddn] argument is given together with the [arg bindpw] argument, the [method connect] binds to the LDAP server using the specified DN and password. [call [arg la] [method disconnect]] This method disconnects (and unbinds, if necessary) from the LDAP server. [call [arg la] [method traverse] [arg base] [arg filter] [arg attrs] [arg entry] [arg body]] This method is a new control structure. It searches the LDAP directory from the specified base DN (given by the [arg base] argument) and selects entries based on the argument [arg filter]. For each entry found, this method fetches attributes specified by the [arg attrs] argument (or all attributes if it is an empty list), stores them in the [arg entry] instance of class [class entry] and executes the script defined by the argument [arg body]. Options are used to refine the search. [para] Caution: when this method is used, the script [arg body] cannot perform another LDAP search (methods [method traverse], [method search] or [method read]). [call [arg la] [method search] [arg base] [arg filter] [arg attrs]] This method searches the directory using the same way as method [method traverse]. All found entries are stored in newly created instances of class [class entry], which are returned in a list. The newly created instances should be destroyed when they are no longer used. [call [arg la] [method read] [arg base] [arg filter] [arg entry] ... [arg entry]] This method reads one or more entries, using the same search criteria as methods [method traverse] and [method search]. All attributes are stored in the entries. This method provides a quick way to read some entries. It returns the number of entries found in the directory (which may be more than the number of read entries). If called without any [arg entry] argument, this method just returns the number of entries found, without returning any data. [call [arg la] [method commit] [arg entry] ... [arg entry]] This method commits the changes stored in the [arg entry] arguments. Each [arg entry] may be either a [emph change] entry, or a [emph standard] entry with a backup. [para] Note: in the future, this method should use the LDAP transaction extension provided by OpenLDAP 2.3 and later. [list_end] [subsection {Ldap Example}] [example { package require ldapx # # Connects to the LDAP directory # ::ldapx::ldap create l set url "ldap://server.mycomp.com" if {! [l connect $url "cn=admin,o=mycomp" "mypasswd"]} then { puts stderr "error: [l error]" exit 1 } # # Search all entries matching some criterion # l configure -scope one ::ldapx::ldap create e set n 0 l traverse "ou=people,o=mycomp" "(sn=Joe*)" {sn givenName} e { puts "dn: [e dn]" puts " sn: [e get1 sn]" puts " givenName: [e get1 givenName]" incr n } puts "$n entries found" e destroy # # Add a telephone number to some entries # Note this modification cannot be done in the "traverse" operation. # set lent [l search "ou=people,o=mycomp" "(sn=Joe*)" {}] ::ldapx::ldap create c foreach e $lent { $e backup $e add1 "telephoneNumber" "+31415926535" c diff $e if {! [l commit c]} then { puts stderr "error: [l error]" exit 1 } $e destroy } l disconnect l destroy }] [section {LDIF CLASS}] [subsection {Ldif Instance Data}] An instance of the [class ldif] class keeps the following data: [list_begin definitions] [def channel] This is the Tcl channel used to retrieve or store LDIF file contents. The association between an instance and a channel is made by the method [method channel]. There is no need to disrupt this association when the LDIF file operation has ended. [def format] LDIF files may contain [emph standard] entries or [emph change] entries, but not both. This variable contains the detected format of the file (when reading) or the format of entries written to the file (when writing). [def lastError] This variable contains the error message which appeared in the last method of the [class ldif] class (this string is modified in nearly all methods). The [method error] method may be used to fetch this message. [def version] This is the version of the LDIF file. Only version 1 is supported: the method [method read] can only read from version 1 files, and method [method write] only creates version 1 files. [list_end] [subsection {Ldif Options}] This class defines two options: [list_begin options] [opt_def -ignore {list-of-attributes}] This option is used to ignore certain attribute names on reading. For example, to read OpenLDAP replica files (replog), one must ignore [const replica] and [const time] attributes since they do not conform to the RFC 2849 standard for LDIF files. [para] Default is empty list: no attribute is ignored. [opt_def -utf8 {pattern-yes pattern-no}] Specify which attribute values are encoded in UTF-8. This information is specific to the LDAP schema in use by the application, since some attributes such as jpegPhoto, for example, are not encoded in UTF-8. This option takes the form of a list with two regular expressions suitable for the [cmd regexp] command (anchored by ^ and $). The first specifies which attribute names are to be UTF-8 encoded, and the second selects, among those, the attribute names which will not be UTF-8 encoded. It is thus possible to say: convert all attributes, except jpegPhoto. [para] Default is {{.*} {}}, meaning: all attributes are converted, without exception. [list_end] [subsection {Ldif Methods}] [list_begin definitions] [call [arg li] [method channel] [arg chan]] This method associates the Tcl channel named [arg chan] with the LDIF instance. It resets the type of LDIF object to [emph uninitialized]. [call [arg li] [method error] [opt [arg newmsg]]] This method returns the error message that occurred in the last call to a [class ldif] class method. If the optional argument [arg newmsg] is supplied, it becomes the last error message. [call [arg li] [method read] [arg entry]] This method reads the next entry from the LDIF file and stores it in the [arg entry] object of class [class entry]. The entry may be a [emph standard] or [emph change] entry. [call [arg li] [method write] [arg entry]] This method writes the entry given in the argument [arg entry] to the LDIF file. [list_end] [subsection {Ldif Example}] [example { package require ldapx # This examples reads a LDIF file containing entries, # compare them to a LDAP directory, and writes on standard # output an LDIF file containing changes to apply to the # LDAP directory to match exactly the LDIF file. ::ldapx::ldif create liin liin channel stdin ::ldapx::ldif create liout liout channel stdout ::ldapx::ldap create la if {! [la connect "ldap://server.mycomp.com"]} then { puts stderr "error: [la error]" exit 1 } la configure -scope one # Reads LDIF file ::ldapx::entry create e1 ::ldapx::entry create e2 ::ldapx::entry create c while {[liin read e1] != 0} { set base [e1 superior] set id [e1 rdn] if {[la read $base "($id)" e2] == 0} then { e2 reset } c diff e1 e2 if {[llength [c change]] != 0} then { liout write c } } la disconnect la destroy e1 destroy e2 destroy c destroy liout destroy liin destroy }] [section References] [section {BUGS, IDEAS, FEEDBACK}] This document, and the package it describes, will undoubtedly contain bugs and other problems. Please report such in the category [emph ldap] of the [uri {http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=12883} {Tcllib SF Trackers}]. Please also report any ideas for enhancements you may have for either package and/or documentation. [keywords ldap ldif {rfc 2251} {rfc 2849} {ldap client} {directory access} internet protocol] [manpage_end]