NAME

       Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder - Build LDAP filter statements

VERSION

       This document refers to version 1.0004 of Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder

PURPOSE

       Use this module to construct LDAP filter statments which are compliant with the RFC 4515
       syntax and also safely escape special characters. Filter statements can be built
       incrementally using simple logic operations.

SYNOPSIS

        use Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder;

        my $filter1 = Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder->new( sn => 'Jones' );
        # now $filter1 eq '(sn=Jones)'

       Basic logic operations such as "and", "or" and "not":

        $filter1->and( givenName => 'David' );
        # (&(sn=Jones)(givenName=David))

        my $filter2 = Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder->new( sn => [ 'Jones', 'Edwards', 'Lewis' ] );
        # (|(sn=Jones)(sn=Edwards)(sn=Lewis))

        my $filter3 = Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder->new( givenName => 'David' )->not;
        # (!(givenName=David))

       Build up filters incrementally from other FilterBuidler objects:

        my $filter4 = Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder->new( sn => ['Jones', 'Edwards'] )->and( $filter3 );
        # (&(|(sn=Jones)(sn=Edwards))(!(givenName=David)))

       Special characters to LDAP will be escaped:

        my $filter5 = Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder->new( sn => 'foo*bar' );
        # (sn=foo\*bar)

       To disable escaping, pass a Scalar reference:

        my $filter6 = Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder->new( sn => \'foo*bar' );
        # (sn=foo*bar)

       Alternate operators are available through the three-argument constructor form:

        my $filter7 = Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder->new( '>=', dateOfBirth => '19700101000000Z' );
        # (dateOfBirth>=19700101000000Z)

DESCRIPTION

       This is a convenience module which greatly simplifies the construction of LDAP query
       filter statments, which are described in RFC 4515 and also the Net::LDAP::Filter manual
       page.

USAGE

       To make any filter, call the constructor "new" with the attribute and value to match:

        my $filter = Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder->new( sn => 'Jones' );

       The value returned is an object, but stringifies to the current query:

        print "success" if $filter eq '(sn=Jones)';
        # prints "success"

       However you can refine the filter statement using three additional methods for the logical
       operations "and", "or" and "not", as shown in the "SYOPSIS" section, above, and the
       "METHODS" section below.

       There are two ways to refine a filter. Either call the logic method with a new attribute
       and value, or call a logic method and pass another Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder object. These
       two practices are also shown in the "SYNOPSIS" section, above.

   Comparison Operators
       By default the module uses an equal operator between the attribute and value.  To select
       an alternate operator, use the three agurment form of the constructor:

        my $filter = Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder->new( '>=', dateOfBirth => '19700101000000Z' );
        # (dateOfBirth>=19700101000000Z)

       Note that this module is not aware of the list of valid operators, it simply takes the
       first argument to be the operator, whatever it might be.

   Special Character Escaping
       If you happen to include one of the small set of characters which are of special
       significance to LDAP filter statments in your value argument, then those characters will
       be escaped. The list of characters is:

        ( ) * \ NUL

       To avoid this pass in a scalar reference as the value argument. For example to enable a
       wildcard (substring) match on a value:

        my $filter = Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder->new( sn => \'foo*bar' );
        # (sn=foo*bar)

METHODS

       as_str
           Returns the string representation of the LDAP filter.  Note that the object will
           stringify to this value in string context, too.

       and(FILTERSPEC)
           Logically conjoins this filter with the one specified by FILTERSPEC.  FILTERSPEC may
           be a Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder object, or a hash representation of the filter as taken
           by new.

           Returns the newly-conjoined Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder.

       or(FILTERSPEC)
           Logically disjoins this filter with the one specified by FILTERSPEC.  FILTERSPEC may
           be a Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder object, or a hash representation of the filter as taken
           by new.

           Returns the newly-disjoined Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder.

       not Logically complements this filter.

           Returns the newly-negated Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder.

AUTHOR

       Originally written by Ray Miller.

MAINTAINER

       Oliver Gorwits "<oliver.gorwits@oucs.ox.ac.uk>"

COPYRIGHT & LICENSE

       Copyright (c) The University of Oxford 2008.

       This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same
       terms as Perl itself.