NAME

       ldap_first_message,  ldap_next_message, ldap_count_messages - Stepping through messages in
       a result chain

LIBRARY

       OpenLDAP LDAP (libldap, -lldap)

SYNOPSIS

       #include <ldap.h>

       int ldap_count_messages( LDAP *ld, LDAPMessage *result )

       LDAPMessage *ldap_first_message( LDAP *ld, LDAPMessage *result )

       LDAPMessage *ldap_next_message( LDAP *ld, LDAPMessage *message )

DESCRIPTION

       These routines are used to step through the messages  in  a  result  chain  received  from
       ldap_result(3).   For  search operations, the result chain can contain referral, entry and
       result messages. The ldap_msgtype(3) function can  be  used  to  distinguish  between  the
       different message types.

       The  ldap_first_message() routine is used to retrieve the first message in a result chain.
       It takes the  result  as  returned  by  a  call  to  ldap_result(3),  ldap_search_s(3)  or
       ldap_search_st(3) and returns a pointer to the first message in the result chain.

       This  pointer  should  be  supplied on a subsequent call to ldap_next_message() to get the
       next  message,  the  result  of  which  should  be  supplied   to   the   next   call   to
       ldap_next_message(),  etc.   ldap_next_message()  will  return NULL when there are no more
       messages.

       These functions are useful when using routines like ldap_parse_result(3) that only operate
       on the first result in the chain.

       A  count  of  the  number  of  messages  in  the  result  chain can be obtained by calling
       ldap_count_messages().  It can also be used to count the number of remaining messages in a
       chain  if  called  with  a  message, entry or reference returned by ldap_first_message() ,
       ldap_next_message() ,  ldap_first_entry(3),  ldap_next_entry(3),  ldap_first_reference(3),
       ldap_next_reference(3).

ERRORS

       If  an  error occurs in ldap_first_message() or ldap_next_message(), NULL is returned.  If
       an error occurs in ldap_count_messages(), -1 is returned.

SEE ALSO

       ldap(3),  ldap_search(3),   ldap_result(3),   ldap_parse_result(3),   ldap_first_entry(3),
       ldap_first_reference(3)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

       OpenLDAP    Software    is    developed   and   maintained   by   The   OpenLDAP   Project
       <http://www.openldap.org/>.  OpenLDAP Software is derived from the University of  Michigan
       LDAP 3.3 Release.