VERSION

This document refers to version 1.0004 of Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder

PURPOSE

Use this module to construct LDAP filter statments which are compliant with the RFC 4515 syntax and also safely escape special characters. Filter statements can be built incrementally using simple logic operations.

SYNOPSIS

use Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder;
my $filter1 = Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder->new( sn => 'Jones' );
# now $filter1 eq '(sn=Jones)'

Basic logic operations such as "and", "or" and "not":

 $filter1->and( givenName => 'David' );
 # (&(sn=Jones)(givenName=David))
 
 my $filter2 = Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder->new( sn => [ 'Jones', 'Edwards', 'Lewis' ] );
 # (|(sn=Jones)(sn=Edwards)(sn=Lewis))
 
 my $filter3 = Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder->new( givenName => 'David' )->not;
 # (!(givenName=David))

Build up filters incrementally from other FilterBuidler objects:

 my $filter4 = Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder->new( sn => ['Jones', 'Edwards'] )->and( $filter3 );
 # (&(|(sn=Jones)(sn=Edwards))(!(givenName=David)))

Special characters to LDAP will be escaped:

 my $filter5 = Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder->new( sn => 'foo*bar' );
 # (sn=foo\*bar)

To disable escaping, pass a Scalar reference:

 my $filter6 = Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder->new( sn => \'foo*bar' );
 # (sn=foo*bar)

Alternate operators are available through the three-argument constructor form:

 my $filter7 = Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder->new( '>=', dateOfBirth => '19700101000000Z' );
 # (dateOfBirth>=19700101000000Z)

DESCRIPTION

This is a convenience module which greatly simplifies the construction of LDAP query filter statments, which are described in RFC 4515 and also the Net::LDAP::Filter manual page.

USAGE

To make any filter, call the constructor "new" with the attribute and value to match:

 my $filter = Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder->new( sn => 'Jones' );

The value returned is an object, but stringifies to the current query:

 print "success" if $filter eq '(sn=Jones)';
 # prints "success"

However you can refine the filter statement using three additional methods for the logical operations "and", "or" and "not", as shown in the ``SYOPSIS'' section, above, and the ``METHODS'' section below.

There are two ways to refine a filter. Either call the logic method with a new attribute and value, or call a logic method and pass another Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder object. These two practices are also shown in the ``SYNOPSIS'' section, above.

Comparison Operators

By default the module uses an equal operator between the attribute and value. To select an alternate operator, use the three agurment form of the constructor:

 my $filter = Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder->new( '>=', dateOfBirth => '19700101000000Z' );
 # (dateOfBirth>=19700101000000Z)

Note that this module is not aware of the list of valid operators, it simply takes the first argument to be the operator, whatever it might be.

Special Character Escaping

If you happen to include one of the small set of characters which are of special significance to LDAP filter statments in your value argument, then those characters will be escaped. The list of characters is:

 ( ) * \ NUL

To avoid this pass in a scalar reference as the value argument. For example to enable a wildcard (substring) match on a value:

 my $filter = Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder->new( sn => \'foo*bar' );
 # (sn=foo*bar)

METHODS

as_str

Returns the string representation of the LDAP filter. Note that the object will stringify to this value in string context, too.

and(FILTERSPEC)

Logically conjoins this filter with the one specified by FILTERSPEC. FILTERSPEC may be a Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder object, or a hash representation of the filter as taken by new.

Returns the newly-conjoined Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder.

or(FILTERSPEC)

Logically disjoins this filter with the one specified by FILTERSPEC. FILTERSPEC may be a Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder object, or a hash representation of the filter as taken by new.

Returns the newly-disjoined Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder.

not

Logically complements this filter.

Returns the newly-negated Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder.

AUTHOR

Originally written by Ray Miller.

MAINTAINER

Oliver Gorwits "<[email protected]>"

COPYRIGHT & LICENSE

Copyright (c) The University of Oxford 2008.

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.