NET::LDAP::DSML -- A DSML Writer for Net::LDAP

 For a directory entry;

 use Net::LDAP;
 use Net::LDAP::DSML;
 use IO::File;

 my $server = "localhost";
 my $file = "testdsml.xml";
 my $ldap = Net::LDAP->new($server);

 $ldap->bind();

 #
 # For file i/o
 #
 my $file = "testdsml.xml";

 my $io = IO::File->new($file,"w") or die ("failed to open $file as filehandle.$!\n");

 my $dsml = Net::LDAP::DSML->new(output => $io, pretty_print => 1 )
      or die ("DSML object creation problem using an output file.\n");
 #      OR
 #
 # For file i/o
 #

 open (IO,">$file") or die("failed to open $file.$!");

 my $dsml = Net::LDAP::DSML->new(output => *IO, pretty_print => 1)
     or die ("DSML object creation problem using an output file.\n");

 #      OR
 #
 # For array usage.
 # Pass a reference to an array.
 #

 my @data = ();
 $dsml = Net::LDAP::DSML->new(output => \@data, pretty_print => 1) 
     or die ("DSML object cration problem using an output array.\n");

  my $mesg = $ldap->search(
                           base     => 'o=airius.com',
                           scope    => 'sub',
                           filter   => 'ou=accounting',
                           callback => sub {
                                         my ($mesg,$entry) =@_;
                                         $dsml->write_entry($entry) 
                                          if (ref $entry eq 'Net::LDAP::Entry');
                                       }
                            );

 die ("search failed with ",$mesg->code(),"\n") if $mesg->code();

 For directory schema;

 A file or array can be used for output, in the following example
 only an array will be used.

 my $schema = $ldap->schema();
 my @data = ();
 my $dsml = Net::LDAP::DSML->new(output => \@data, pretty_print => 1 )
      or die ("DSML object creation problem using an output array.\n");

 $dsml->write_schema($schema);

 print "Finished printing DSML\n";

Directory Service Markup Language (DSML) is the XML standard for representing directory service information in XML.

At the moment this module only writes DSML entry and schema entities. Reading DSML entities is a future project.

Eventually this module will be a full level 2 consumer and producer enabling you to give you full DSML conformance. Currently this module has the ability to be a level 2 producer. The user must understand the his/her directory server will determine the consumer and producer level they can achieve.

To determine conformance, it is useful to divide DSML documents into four types:

  1.Documents containing no directory schema nor any references to 
    an external schema. 
  2.Documents containing no directory schema but containing at 
    least one reference to an external schema. 
  3.Documents containing only a directory schema. 
  4.Documents containing both a directory schema and entries.

A producer of DSML must be able to produce documents of type 1. A producer of DSML may, in addition, be able to produce documents of types 2 thru 4.

A producer that can produce documents of type 1 is said to be a level 1 producer. A producer than can produce documents of all four types is said to be a level 2 producer.

The module uses callbacks to improve performance (at least the appearance of improving performance ;) and to reduce the amount of memory required to parse large DSML files. Every time a single entry or schema is processed we pass the Net::LDAP object (either an Entry or Schema object) to the callback routine.

new ()

Creates a new Net::LDAP::DSML object. There are 2 options to this method. OUTPUT is a reference to either a file handle that has already been opened or to an array. PRETTY_PRINT is an option to print a new line at the end of each element sequence. It makes the reading of the XML output easier for a human. Example

  my $dsml = Net::LDAP::DSML->new();  
  Prints xml data to standard out.

  my $dsml = Net::LDAP::DSML->new(output => \@array);  
  my $dsml = Net::LDAP::DSML->new(output => *FILE);  
  Prints xml data to a file or array.

  my $dsml = Net::LDAP::DSML->new(output => \@array, pretty_print => 1);  
  my $dsml = Net::LDAP::DSML->new(output => *FILE, pretty_print => 1);  
  Prints xml data to a file or array in pretty print style.

start_dsml ()

Start a DSML file.

end_dsml ()

End a DSML file.

write_entry ( ENTRY )

Entry is a Net::LDAP::Entry object. The write method will parse the LDAP data in the Entry object and put it into DSML XML format. Example

  my $entry = $mesg->entry();
  $dsml->write_entry($entry);

write_schema ( SCHEMA )

Schema is a Net::LDAP::Schema object. The write_schema method will parse the LDAP data in the Schema object and put it into DSML XML format. Example

  my $schema = $ldap->schema();
  $dsml->write_schema($schema);

Graham Barr gbarr@pobox.com

Net::LDAP, XML::SAX::Base

Copyright (c) 2002-2004 Graham Barr. All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.