Active Directory, 4th Edition

Chapter 29. Programming the Directory with the .NET Framework

In 2002, Microsoft announced a major new initiative called “.NET” that was intended to fundamentally change the way software is written for the Windows platform. Something called “.NET Framework” would provide a unified, cross-language programming model and a “managed” runtime environment for this code, which would take care of the messy details such as memory management, making software development easier.

The .NET Framework, now on version 3.5, has seen three major releases, expanding the capability of the programming library substantially. The landscape for directory services programming has also expanded dramatically. In fact, over the last five years or so, the .NET directory services programming interfaces have seen the only really substantial investment by Microsoft in interfaces for programming the directory.

While a skeptic might suggest this is because .NET was just playing catch up, the reality is that now, more than ever before, the .NET Framework is the place for Windows developers of all stripes to access the directory. It is also the case that we have a lot more to talk about than we did last time. Let’s dig in.

Why .NET?

Why bother learning about .NET? After all, many AD administrators have been scripting happily for years with VBScript, ADSI, WMI, and a pile of command-line tools. We have been getting along just fine. This .NET stuff is really for the enterprise developers writing line of business applications, ...