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bronto has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hello everybody

A couple of weeks ago I posted an RFC for a module I intended to write and put on CPAN; now the module is ready (see below) and I have an account on PAUSE.

I wrote to Graham Barr to ask him if it was ok for me to use the Net::LDAP namespace, and he asked me to discuss the thing on the perl-ldap list before releasing anything on that namespace; that's what I am doing at the moment and I already have some feedback

What I am looking for now is some suggestion about the module name in the unlucky case that I won't be allowed to use the Net::LDAP namespace. An existing namespace would be preferred.

Below is the manpage of the first implementation of Net::LDAP::Simple -or whatever the name will be in the future.

NAME Net::LDAP::Simple - Simplified interface for Net::LDAP SYNOPSIS use Net::LDAP::Simple; # connect and bind to a directory server # bindDN and bindpw are optional, if you don't specify them an # anonymous bind is performed # base is the base subtree for searches, it is an optional param +eter # searchattrs are the attributes that are used by the simplesear +ch() # method. eval { my $ldap = Net::LDAP::Simple->new(host => 'localhost', bindDN => 'cn=admin,ou=People,dc=me', bindpw => 'secret', base => 'ou=People,dc=me', searchattrs => [qw(cn uid loginname)] +, %parms) ; # params for Net::LDAP::new } ; if ($@) { die "Can't connect to ldap server: $@" ; } my $filter = '(|(loginname=~bronto)(|(cn=~bronto)(uid=~bronto))) +' ; my $entries ; # These all return the same array of Net::LDAP::Entry objects $entries = $ldap->search(filter => $filter) ; # uses new()'s bas +e $entries = $ldap->search(base => 'ou=People,dc=me', filter => $filter) ; $entries = $ldap->simplesearch('bronto') ; # uses new()'s search +attrs # Now elaborate results: foreach my $entry (@$entries) { modify_something_in_this($entry) ; } # You often want to update a set of entries foreach my $entry (@$entries) { die "Error updating entry" unless defined $ldap->update($entry +) ; } # but you can also do this: my $result = $ldap->update(@$entries) ; unless (@$result == @$entries) { print "Error updating entries: ",$ldap->error, "; code ",$ldap->errcode,".\n\n" ; } # Add an entry, or an array of them, works as above: die $ldap->error unless $ldap->add($entry) ; # rename an entry: sometimes you simply want to change a name # and nothing else... $ldap->rename($entry,$newrdn) ; DESCRIPTION Net::LDAP::Simple is a simplified interface to the fantastic Graham Barr's Net::LDAP. Net::LDAP is a great module for working with directory servers, but it's a bit overkill when you want to do simple short scripts or have big programs that always do the same job again and again, say: open an authenticated connection to a directory server, search entries against the same attributes each time and in the same way (e.g.: approx search against the three attributes cn, uid and loginname). With Net::LDAP this would mean: * connect to the directory server using new(); * authenticate with bind() ; * compose a search filter, and pass it to search(), along with the base subtree; * perform the search getting a Net::LDAP::Search object; * verify that the search was successful using the code() or is_error() method on the search object; * if the search was successful, extract the entries from the Search object, for example with entries or shift_entry. With Net::LDAP::Simple this is done with: * connect, authenticate, define default search subtree and simple-search attributes with the new() method; * pass the simplesearch method a search string to be matched against the attributes defined with searchattrs in new() and check the return value: if it was successful you have a reference to an array of Net::LDAP::Entry objects, if it was unsuccessful you get undef, and you can check what the error was with the error() method (or the error code with errcode) ; CONSTRUCTOR new(%parms) Creates a Net::LDAP::Simple object. Accepts all the parameters that are legal to Net::LDAP::new but the directory server name/address is specified via the "host" parameter. Specific Net::LDAP::Simple parameters are therefore: host the name or IP address of the directory server we are connecting to. Mandatory. bindDN bind DN in case of authenticated bind bindpw bind password in case of authenticated bind base base subtree for searches. ***(Mandatory or optional?) searchattrs attributes to use for simple searches (see the simplesearch method); searchbool boolean operator in case that more than one attribute is specified with searchattrs; default is '|' (boolean or); allowed boolean operators are | and &. searchmatch By default, an 'approx' search is performed by simplesearch(); for those directory servers that doesn't support the ~= operator it is possible to request a substring search specifying the value 'substr' for the searchmatch parameter. searchextras A list of attributes that should be returned in addition of the default ones. REDEFINED METHODS All Net::LDAP methods are supported via inheritance. Method specific in Net::LDAP::Simple or that override inherited methods are documented below. add If you pass it a scalar DN as first parameter, it will proxy the method call to Net::LDAP::add and it will behave the sane way returning a Net::LDAP::Message object. Or you can pass it one or more Net::LDAP::Entry objects, and it will return a reference to an array of Net::LDAP::Entry objects that successfully made it on the directory server. You can check if every entry has been added by comparing the length of the input list against the length of the output list. Use the error and/or errorcode methods to see what went wrong. delete Works the same way as "add", but it deletes entries instead :-) search search works exactly as Net::LDAP::search() does, however it takes advantage of the defaults set with new(): uses new()'s base parameter if you don't specify another base, and adds searchextras to default attributes unless you specify an "attrs" parameter. Another change in the search() interface is the return value: now search() returns a reference to an array of entries for success, or undef on error. Passing a plain string to "search" just proxyies the call to the method "simplesearch". NOTE: Actually, I am undecided if this is a good thing. I am pondering if search should simply be inherited by the superclass... I'd like to have some feedback about that. NEW METHODS rename($entry,$newrdn) Renames an entry; $entry can be a Net::LDAP::Entry or a DN, $newrdn is a new value for the RDN. Returns $entry for success, undef on failure. update(@entries) update takes a list of Net::LDAP::Entry objects as arguments and commits changes on the directory server. Returns a reference to an array of updated entries. simplesearch($searchstring) Searches entries using the new()'s search* and base parameters. Takes a search string as argument. Returns a list of entries on success, undef on error. error Returns last error's name errcode Returns last error's code AUTHOR Marco Marongiu, <bronto@CENSORED> SEE ALSO the Net::LDAP manpage.

Ciao!
--bronto


The very nature of Perl to be like natural language--inconsistant and full of dwim and special cases--makes it impossible to know it all without simply memorizing the documentation (which is not complete or totally correct anyway).
--John M. Dlugosz