LdapContext is used when LDAPv3 extended operations and/or controls are required. Extended operations are dealt with by the extendedOperation method. All other methods relate to the use of controls. Controls are extra information provided to or from an LDAP v3 server. Controls are either of the type Request or Reponse. There is a special type of request controls known as connection controls.
Connection controls are used by a service provider when connecting or reconnecting to an LDAP server. These are associated with connections and are inherited by derived Context. It should be noted however that subsequent changes to a derived Context's own connection controls has no impact on the Context from which it inherited. There are a number of environment properties which relate specifically to LDAP service providers. The one which is important here is: java.naming.ldap.control.connect which holds the array of connection controls for a Context. Service providers rely on this to pass on the connection controls to derived Context.
Request controls are used by a service provider when performing operations other than connecting or reconnecting. These are referred to as Context Request Controls as they relate to the specific Context instance. It must be noted that, unlike connection controls, they are not inherited. Connection and request controls being split like this allows service provider implementations to pool connections.
Response controls are generated by an LDAPv3 server.
@see DirContext | |