=head1 NAME Net::LDAP::Entry - An LDAP entry object =head1 SYNOPSIS use Net::LDAP; $ldap = Net::LDAP->new ( $host ); $mesg = $ldap->search ( @search_args ); my $max = $mesg->count; for ( $i = 0 ; $i < $max ; $i++ ) { my $entry = $mesg->entry ( $i ); foreach my $attr ( $entry->attributes ) { print join( "\n ", $attr, $entry->get_value( $attr ) ), "\n"; } } # or use Net::LDAP::Entry; $entry = Net::LDAP::Entry->new; $entry->dn($dn); $entry->add ( attr1 => 'value1', attr2 => [ qw(value1 value2) ] ); $entry->delete ( 'unwanted' ); $entry->replace ( attr1 => 'newvalue' attr2 => [ qw(new values) ] ); $entry->update ( $ldap ); # update directory server $entry2 = $entry->clone; # copies entry # new alternate syntax $entry = Net::LDAP::Entry->new ( $dn , attr1 => 'value1' , attr2 => [ qw(value1 value2) ] )->add( attr3 => 'value' )->update( $ldap ); =head1 DESCRIPTION The B object represents a single entry in the directory. It is a container for attribute-value pairs. A B object can be used in two situations. The first and probably most common use is in the result of a search to the directory server. The other is where a new object is created locally and then a single command is sent to the directory server to add, modify or replace an entry. Entries for this purpose can also be created by reading an LDIF file with the L module. =head1 CONSTRUCTORS =over 4 =item new ( ) Create a new entry object with the changetype set to C<'add'>. Optionally, you can provide a DN and a list of arguments passed to the add method. Net::LDAP::Entry->new() # or Net::LDAP::Entry->new( $dn ) # or Net::LDAP::Entry->new( $dn , objectClass => [qw( top posixAccount )] , uid => 'admin' ) =item clone ( ) Returns a copy of the B object. =back =head1 METHODS =over 4 =item add ( ATTR =E VALUE, ... ) Add more attributes or values to the entry and returns the entry itself. Each C should be a string if only a single value is wanted in the attribute, or a reference to an array of strings if multiple values are wanted. The values given will be added to the values which already exist for the given attributes. $entry->add ( 'sn' => 'Barr' ); $entry->add ( 'street' => [ '1 some road','nowhere' ] ); B: these changes are local to the client and will not appear on the directory server until the C method is called. As C returns the entry, you can write something like. $entry->add ( 'sn' => 'Barr' )->update( $ldap ); =item attributes ( OPTIONS ) Return a list of attributes in this entry =over 4 =item nooptions =E 1 Return a list of the attribute names excluding any options. For example for the entry name: Graham Barr name;en-us: Bob jpeg;binary: **binary data** then @values = $entry->attributes; print "default: @values\n"; @values = $entry->attributes ( nooptions => 1 ); print "nooptions: @values\n"; will output default: name name;en-us jpeg;binary nooptions: name jpeg =back =item changetype ( ) Returns the type of operation that would be performed when the update method is called. =item changetype ( TYPE ) Set the type of operation that will be performed when the update method is called to C. Returns the entry itself. Possible values for C are =over 4 =item add The update method will call the add method on the client object, which will result in the entry being added to the directory server. =item delete The update method will call the delete method on the client object, which will result in the entry being removed from the directory server. $entry->delete->update( $ldap ) =item modify The update method will call the modify method on the client object, which will result in any changes that have been made locally being made to the entry on the directory server. =item moddn/modrdn The update method will call the moddn method on the client object, which will result in any DN changes that have been made locally being made to the entry on the directory server. These DN changes are specified by setting the entry attributes newrdn, deleteoldrdn, and (optionally) newsuperior. =back =item delete ( ) Delete the entry from the server on the next call to C. =item delete ( ATTR =E [ VALUE, ... ], ... ) Delete the values of given attributes from the entry. Values are references to arrays; passing a reference to an empty array is the same as passing C, and will result in the entire attribute being deleted. For example: $entry->delete ( 'mail' => [ 'foo.bar@example.com' ] ); $entry->delete ( 'description' => [ ], 'streetAddress' => [ ] ); B: these changes are local to the client and will not appear on the directory server until the C method is called. =item dn ( ) Get the DN of the entry. =item dn ( DN ) Set the DN for the entry, and return the previous value. B: these changes are local to the client and will not appear on the directory server until the C method is called. =item dump ( [ FILEHANDLE ] ) Dump the entry to the given filehandle. This method is intended for debugging purposes and does not treat binary attributes specially. See L on how to generate LDIF output. If C is omitted C is used by default. =item exists ( ATTR ) Returns C if the entry has an attribute called C. =item get_value ( ATTR, OPTIONS ) Get the values for the attribute C. In a list context returns all values for the given attribute, or the empty list if the attribute does not exist. In a scalar context returns the first value for the attribute or undef if the attribute does not exist. =over 4 =item alloptions =E 1 The result will be a hash reference. The keys of the hash will be the options and the hash value will be the values for those attributes. For example if an entry had: name: Graham Barr name;en-us: Bob Then a get for attribute "name" with alloptions set to a true value $ref = $entry->get_value ( 'name', alloptions => 1 ); will return a hash reference that would be like { '' => [ 'Graham Barr' ], ';en-us' => [ 'Bob' ] } If alloptions is not set or is set to false only the attribute values for the exactly matching name are returned. =item asref =E 1 The result will be a reference to an array containing all the values for the attribute, or C if the attribute does not exist. $scalar = $entry->get_value ( 'name' ); $scalar will be the first value for the C attribute, or C if the entry does not contain a C attribute. $ref = $entry->get_value ( 'name', asref => 1 ); $ref will be a reference to an array, which will have all the values for the C attribute. If the entry does not have an attribute called C then $ref will be C. =back B: In the interest of performance the array references returned by C are references to structures held inside the entry object. These values and thier contents should B be modified directly. =item replace ( ATTR =E VALUE, ... ) Similar to C, except that the values given will replace any values that already exist for the given attributes. B: these changes are local to the client and will not appear on the directory server until the C method is called. =item update ( CLIENT [, OPTIONS ] ) Update the directory server with any changes that have been made locally to the attributes of this entry. This means any calls that have been made to add, replace or delete since the last call to changetype or update was made. This method can also be used to modify the DN of the entry on the server, by specifying moddn or modrdn as the changetype, and setting the entry attributes newrdn, deleteoldrdn, and (optionally) newsuperior. C is a C object where the update will be sent to. C may be options to the C actions on CLIENT corresponding to the entry's changetype. The result will be an object of type L as returned by the add, modify or delete method called on CLIENT. =back =head1 SEE ALSO L, L =head1 AUTHOR Graham Barr Egbarr@pobox.comE. Please report any bugs, or post any suggestions, to the perl-ldap mailing list Eperl-ldap@perl.orgE. =head1 COPYRIGHT Copyright (c) 1997-2004 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. =cut