javax.naming.directory (Java Platform SE 7 b138)

Interface Summary
Interface	Description
Attribute	This interface represents an attribute associated with a named object.
Attributes	This interface represents a collection of attributes.
DirContext	The directory service interface, containing methods for examining and updating attributes associated with objects, and for searching the directory.

Class Summary
Class	Description
BasicAttribute	This class provides a basic implementation of the `Attribute` interface.
BasicAttributes	This class provides a basic implementation of the Attributes interface.
InitialDirContext	This class is the starting context for performing directory operations.
ModificationItem	This class represents a modification item.
SearchControls	This class encapsulates factors that determine scope of search and what gets returned as a result of the search.
SearchResult	This class represents an item in the NamingEnumeration returned as a result of the DirContext.search() methods.

Exception Summary
Exception	Description
AttributeInUseException	This exception is thrown when an operation attempts to add an attribute that already exists.
AttributeModificationException	This exception is thrown when an attempt is made to add, or remove, or modify an attribute, its identifier, or its values that conflicts with the attribute's (schema) definition or the attribute's state.
InvalidAttributeIdentifierException	This exception is thrown when an attempt is made to add to create an attribute with an invalid attribute identifier.
InvalidAttributesException	This exception is thrown when an attempt is made to add or modify an attribute set that has been specified incompletely or incorrectly.
InvalidAttributeValueException	This class is thrown when an attempt is made to add to an attribute a value that conflicts with the attribute's schema definition.
InvalidSearchControlsException	This exception is thrown when the specification of the SearchControls for a search operation is invalid.
InvalidSearchFilterException	This exception is thrown when the specification of a search filter is invalid.
NoSuchAttributeException	This exception is thrown when attempting to access an attribute that does not exist.
SchemaViolationException	This exception is thrown when a method in some ways violates the schema.

Package javax.naming.directory Description

Extends the javax.naming package to provide functionality for accessing directory services.

This package defines the directory operations of the Java Naming and Directory Interface^TM (JNDI). JNDI provides naming and directory functionality to applications written in the Java programming language. It is designed to be independent of any specific naming or directory service implementation. Thus a variety of services--new, emerging, and already deployed ones--can be accessed in a common way.

This package allows applications to retrieve and update attributes associated with objects stored in a directory, and to search for objects using specified attributes.

The Directory Context

The DirContext interface represents a directory context. It defines methods for examining and updating attributes associated with a directory object, or directory entry as it is sometimes called.

You use getAttributes() to retrieve the attributes associated with a directory object (for which you supply the name). Attributes are modified using modifyAttributes(). You can add, replace, or remove attributes and/or attribute values using this operation.

DirContext also behaves as a naming context by extending the Context interface in the javax.naming package. This means that any directory object can also provide a naming context. For example, the directory object for a person might contain the attributes of that person, and at the same time provide a context for naming objects relative to that person such as his printers and home directory.

Searches

DirContext contains methods for performing content-based searching of the directory. In the simplest and most common form of usage, the application specifies a set of attributes--possibly with specific values--to match, and submits this attribute set, to the search() method. There are other overloaded forms of search() that support more sophisticated search filters.

Package Specification

The JNDI API Specification and related documents can be found in the JNDI documentation.

Since:: 1.3

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For further API reference and developer documentation, see Java SE Documentation. That documentation contains more detailed, developer-targeted descriptions, with conceptual overviews, definitions of terms, workarounds, and working code examples.
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