Chapter 21. Developing New Applications

• Reasons to Develop Directory-Enabled Applications

• Common Ways That Applications Use Directories

• Tools for Developing LDAP Applications

• Advice for LDAP Application Developers

• Example 1: setpwd , a Password-Resetting Utility

• Example 2: SimpleSite, a Web Site with User Profile Storage

• Developing New Applications Checklist

• Further Reading

• Looking Ahead

In the next few chapters we describe how to leverage your deployed directory service and get more out of your directory investment. One of the most common ways to leverage a directory is to create new applications that use it. As discussed in Chapter 6, Defining Your Directory Needs, serving the needs of one or more directory-enabled applications is often the driving force behind the initial deployment of a directory service. The first applications deployed against a directory service are typically off-the-shelf commercial or open -source applications. In this chapter we take the next step and look at creating new directory-enabled applications.

From an application developer's point of view, an LDAP directory service is a wonderful thing. LDAP provides a simple, secure, and standard way to access a shared, flexible store of information. Several high-quality software development kits (SDKs) for writing LDAP applications are available at minimal or no cost. These SDKs free developers from worrying about low-level protocol details and allow them to focus on what they're trying to accomplish with their applications.

In this chapter we first discuss why it makes sense to develop directory applications. Next, we describe the most common ways that applications use directories. We then provide an overview of the available tools for developing LDAP applications. We also include a section that contains helpful advice for writing an LDAP directory-enabled application, and we conclude with two sample applications. This chapter will expose you to some of the many ways that applications can use LDAP, help you generate ideas for new applications that will add value to your own directory service, and show you that developing applications using LDAP is fun, easy, and rewarding . So don't be afraid to get your hands dirty. Write some code!