LINQ For Dummies®

Chapter 12. LINQ to Active Directory

In This Chapter

• Locating specific Active Directory objects

• Specifying the Active Directory variables

• Getting and installing the LINQ to Active Directory provider

• Designing a simple Active Directory application

• Defining the LINQ to Active Directory provider limitations

If you work in a corporate environement, you know how much Active Directory means to your organization. You use Active Directory to store just about every piece of important information for your organization — everything from user names and rights to application settings. In short, Active Directory is more than a simple database; it's the source of information for most activities in your organization.

Unfortunately, Active Directory relies on your knowledge of the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), a query language in its own right. The language is complex enough that some people have put together tutorials for it and others have compiled lists of LDAP resources such as the one found at http://labmice.techtarget.com/activedirectory/AD_ldap.htm.

This chapter helps you discover a new way of working with Active Directory without relying on LDAP directly. Instead of using LDAP, you depend on a special LINQ to Active Directory provider that translates queries that you already understand into LDAP syntax. Yes, you're still relying on LDAP, but you aren't formulating the LDAP requests. The techniques shown in this chapter help you create consistent requests with reliable results.

As ...