Provided by: tcllib_1.15-dfsg-2_all bug

NAME

       ldapx - LDAP extended object interface

SYNOPSIS

       package require Tcl  8.4

       package require ldapx  ?1.0?

       e reset

       e dn ?newdn?

       e rdn

       e superior

       e print

       se isempty

       se get attr

       se get1 attr

       se set attr values

       se set1 attr value

       se add attr values

       se add1 attr value

       se del attr ?values?

       se del1 attr value

       se getattr

       se getall

       se setall avpairs

       se backup ?other?

       se swap

       se restore ?other?

       se apply centry

       ce change ?new?

       ce diff new ?old?

       la error ?newmsg?

       la connect url ?binddn? ?bindpw?

       la disconnect

       la traverse base filter attrs entry body

       la search base filter attrs

       la read base filter entry ... entry

       la commit entry ... entry

       li channel chan

       li error ?newmsg?

       li read entry

       li write entry

_________________________________________________________________

DESCRIPTION

       The  ldapx  package  provides an extended Tcl interface to LDAP directores and LDIF files.
       The ldapx package is built upon the ldap package in order to get low level LDAP access.

       LDAP access is compatible with RFC 2251 (http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2251.txt).  LDIF
       access is compatible with RFC 2849 (http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2849.txt).

OVERVIEW

       The  ldapx  package provides objects to interact with LDAP directories and LDIF files with
       an easy to use programming interface.  It implements three snit::type classes.

       The first class, entry, is used to store individual entries.  Two  different  formats  are
       available:  the  first  one is the standard format, which represents an entry as read from
       the directory. The second format is the change format, which  stores  differences  between
       two standard entries.

       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.

       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.

       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.

       The  second  class  is  the  ldap  class.  It provides a method to connect and bind to the
       directory with a uniform access to LDAP and LDAPS through an URL  (ldap://  or  ldaps://).
       The  traverse control structure executes a body for each entry found in the directory. The
       commit method applies some changes (represented as entry objects) to the directory.  Since
       some  attributes  are  represented  as  UTF-8  strings,  the  option  -utf8 controls which
       attributes must be converted and which attributes must not be converted.

       The last class is the ldif class. It provides a method to associate a standard Tcl channel
       to  an  LDIF  object.  Then,  methods read and 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 -utf8 works exactly as with the ldap class.

ENTRY CLASS

   ENTRY INSTANCE DATA
       An instance of the entry class keeps the following data:

       dn     This is the DN of the entry, which includes (in LDAP terminology) the RDN (relative
              DN) and the Superior parts.

       format The  format  may  be  uninitialized  (entry not yet used), standard or change. Most
              methods check the format of the entry, which can be reset with the reset method.

       attrvals
              In a 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.

       backup In a standard entry, the backup may contain a copy of the dn and all attributes and
              values.  Methods  backup and restore manipulate these data, and method diff may use
              this backup.

       change In a change entry, these data represent the modifications. Such  modifications  are
              handled by specialized methods such as apply or commit.  Detailed format should not
              be used directly by programs.

              Internally, modifications are represented as a list of elements, each  element  has
              one of the following formats (which match the corresponding LDAP operations):

              [1]    {add {attr1 {val1...valn} attr2 {...} ...}}

                     Addition of a new entry.

              [2]    {mod {modop {attr1 ?val1...valn?} attr2 ...} {modop ...} ...}

                     Modification  of  one or more attributes and/or values, where <modop> can be
                     modadd, moddel or modrepl (see the LDAP modify operation).

              [3]    {del}

                     Deletion of an old entry.

              [4]    {modrdn newrdn deleteoldrdn ?newsuperior?}

                     Renaming of an entry.

   ENTRY OPTIONS
       No option is defined by this class.

   METHODS FOR ALL KINDS OF ENTRIES
       e reset
              This method resets the entry to an uninitialized state.

       e dn ?newdn?
              This method returns the  current  DN  of  the  entry.  If  the  optional  newdn  is
              specified, it replaces the current DN of the entry.

       e rdn  This method returns the RDN part of the DN of the entry.

       e superior
              This method returns the superior part of the DN of the entry.

       e print
              This method returns the entry as a string ready to be printed.

   METHODS FOR STANDARD ENTRIES ONLY
       In all methods, attribute names are converted in lower case.

       se isempty
              This method returns 1 if the entry is empty (i.e. without any attribute).

       se get attr
              This  method  returns  all  values  of the attribute attr, or the empty list if the
              attribute is not fond.

       se get1 attr
              This method returns the first value of the attribute.

       se set attr values
              This method sets the values (list values) of the attribute attr.  If  the  list  is
              empty, this method deletes all

       se set1 attr value
              This  method  sets  the  values  of the attribute attr to be an unique value value.
              Previous values, if any, are replaced by the new value.

       se add attr values
              This method adds all elements the list values to the values of the attribute attr.

       se add1 attr value
              This method adds a single value given by the parameter value to the attribute attr.

       se del attr ?values?
              If the optional list values is specified, this method deletes all specified  values
              from  the  attribute  attr.   If  the argument values is not specified, this method
              deletes all values.

       se del1 attr value
              This method deletes a unique value from the attribute attr.

       se getattr
              This method returns all attributes names.

       se getall
              This method returns all attributes and values from the entry, packed in a  list  of
              pairs <attribute, list of values>.

       se setall avpairs
              This  method  sets  at  once  all  attributes and values. The format of the avpairs
              argument is the same as the one returned by method getall.

       se backup ?other?
              This method stores in an other standard entry object a copy of the current  DN  and
              attributes/values. If the optional other argument is not specified, copy is done in
              the current entry (in a specific place, see section OVERVIEW).

       se swap
              This method swaps the current and backup contexts of the entry.

       se restore ?other?
              If the optional argument other is given, which must then be a standard entry,  this
              method  restores  the  current  entry  into  the other entry. If the argument other
              argument is not specified,  this  methods  restores  the  current  entry  from  its
              internal backup (see section OVERVIEW).

       se apply centry
              This  method applies changes defined in the centry argument, which must be a change
              entry.

   METHODS FOR CHANGE ENTRIES ONLY
       ce change ?new?
              If the optional argument new is specified, this method  modifies  the  change  list
              (see  subsection  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 apply or commit.

       ce diff new ?old?
              This method computes the differences between the new and old entries under the form
              of a change list, and stores this list  into  the  current  change  entry.  If  the
              optional  argument  old is not specified, difference is computed from the entry and
              its internal backup (see section OVERVIEW). Return value  is  the  computed  change
              list.

   ENTRY 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

LDAP CLASS

   LDAP INSTANCE DATA
       An instance of the ldap class keeps the following data:

       channel
              This  is  the  channel  used  by  the  ldap package for communication with the LDAP
              server.

       lastError
              This variable contains the error message which appeared in the last method  of  the
              ldap class (this string is modified in nearly all methods). The error method may be
              used to fetch this message.

   LDAP OPTIONS
       A first set of options of the  ldap  class  is  used  during  search  operations  (methods
       traverse, search and read, see below).

       -scope base|one|sub
              Specify  the  scope  of  the LDAP search to be one of base, one or sub to specify a
              base object, one-level or subtree search.

              The default is sub.

       -derefaliases never|seach|find|always
              Specify how aliases dereferencing is handled: never is used to specify that aliases
              are  never  derefenced,  always  that  aliases  are  always derefenced, search that
              aliases are dereferenced when searching, or find that aliases are dereferenced only
              when locating  the  base object for the search.

              The default is never.

       -sizelimit integer
              Specify the maximum number of entries to be retreived during a search. A value of 0
              means no limit.

              Default is 0.

       -timelimit integer
              Specify the time limit for a search to complete.  A value of 0 means no limit.

              Default is 0.

       -attrsonly 0|1
              Specify if only attribute names are to be retrieved (value 1). Normally (value  0),
              attribute values are also retrieved.

              Default is 0.

       The last option is used when getting entries or committing changes in the directory:

       -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 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.

              Default is {{.*} {}}, meaning: all attributes are converted, without exception.

   LDAP METHODS
       la error ?newmsg?
              This  method  returns  the  error  message that occurred in the last call to a ldap
              class method. If the optional argument newmsg is  supplied,  it  becomes  the  last
              error message.

       la connect url ?binddn? ?bindpw?
              This  method  connects to the LDAP server using given URL (which can be of the form
              ldap://host:port or ldaps://host:port). If an optional  binddn  argument  is  given
              together  with  the bindpw argument, the connect binds to the LDAP server using the
              specified DN and password.

       la disconnect
              This method disconnects (and unbinds, if necessary) from the LDAP server.

       la traverse base filter attrs entry body
              This method is a new control structure. It searches the  LDAP  directory  from  the
              specified  base  DN  (given  by the base argument) and selects entries based on the
              argument filter. For each entry found, this method fetches attributes specified  by
              the  attrs  argument (or all attributes if it is an empty list), stores them in the
              entry instance of class entry and executes the script defined by the argument body.
              Options are used to refine the search.

              Caution:  when  this  method  is  used, the script body cannot perform another LDAP
              search (methods traverse, search or read).

       la search base filter attrs
              This method searches the directory using the same way as method traverse. All found
              entries are stored in newly created instances of class entry, which are returned in
              a list. The newly created instances should be destroyed when  they  are  no  longer
              used.

       la read base filter entry ... entry
              This  method  reads  one or more entries, using the same search criteria as methods
              traverse and 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  entry argument, this method just returns the number of entries found,
              without returning any data.

       la commit entry ... entry
              This method commits the changes stored in the entry arguments. Each  entry  may  be
              either a change entry, or a standard entry with a backup.

              Note: in the future, this method should use the LDAP transaction extension provided
              by OpenLDAP 2.3 and later.

   LDAP 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

LDIF CLASS

   LDIF INSTANCE DATA
       An instance of the ldif class keeps the following data:

       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 channel. There
              is no need to disrupt this association when the LDIF file operation has ended.

       format LDIF files may contain standard entries or  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).

       lastError
              This variable contains the error message which appeared in the last method  of  the
              ldif class (this string is modified in nearly all methods). The error method may be
              used to fetch this message.

       version
              This is the version of the LDIF file. Only version 1 is supported: the method  read
              can only read from version 1 files, and method write only creates version 1 files.

   LDIF OPTIONS
       This class defines two options:

       -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 replica and  time  attributes
              since they do not conform to the RFC 2849 standard for LDIF files.

              Default is empty list: no attribute is ignored.

       -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 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.

              Default is {{.*} {}}, meaning: all attributes are converted, without exception.

   LDIF METHODS
       li channel chan
              This method associates the Tcl channel named chan with the LDIF instance. It resets
              the type of LDIF object to uninitialized.

       li error ?newmsg?
              This method returns the error message that occurred in the  last  call  to  a  ldif
              class  method.  If  the  optional  argument newmsg is supplied, it becomes the last
              error message.

       li read entry
              This method reads the next entry from the LDIF file and  stores  it  in  the  entry
              object of class entry.  The entry may be a standard or change entry.

       li write entry
              This method writes the entry given in the argument entry to the LDIF file.

   LDIF 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

REFERENCES

BUGS, IDEAS, FEEDBACK

       This  document,  and  the  package  it  describes, will undoubtedly contain bugs and other
       problems.   Please  report  such  in  the  category  ldap  of  the  Tcllib   SF   Trackers
       [http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=12883].    Please  also  report  any  ideas  for
       enhancements you may have for either package and/or documentation.

KEYWORDS

       directory access, internet, ldap, ldap client, ldif, protocol, rfc 2251, rfc 2849

CATEGORY

       Networking

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (c) 2006 Pierre David <pdav@users.sourceforge.net>