Creating Directory Entries
So far, we have been accessing directory entries that
are already present in the directory. Now it’s time to learn how to
create directory entries of our own, using the createSubcontext()
method of DirContext
. As we discussed earlier, when
you create a subcontext of a Context
object, the service provider
controls the type of object that is created. With a DirContext
, this is not the case; you
actually have complete control over the type of object you create with
createSubcontext()
(within the
constraints of the directory schema, of course).
As noted earlier, the object class definition determines the
type of a directory entry, and the entry stores its object class as an
attribute. So, in order to create a directory entry, we must pass the
object class attribute and some other attributes into the parent
entry’s createSubcontext()
method.
Most directories require that you specify attributes for at
least the object class definition (e.g., "objectclass="
) and key attribute (e.g.,
common name, "cn="
) of a directory
entry. Often directories require that you specify more attributes than
just these. The minimum set of attributes necessary for creating a
directory entry is called the mandatory
attributes. They are mandatory because, if you don’t
specify them, createSubcontext()
throws an InvalidAttributesException
. Other attributes
that aren’t required, but that add more useful data to the entry, are
called extended attributes.
Say we have a reference to a
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