Randomly select a record from Active Directory Application Mode

Question

I need a routine to randomly select records from ADAM (Active Directory Application Mode). Any advice to get me started on this task?

Answer 1

Use a DirectorySearcher filter with (objectClass=user) and pick a result at random might work. Something like ...

private static Random rnd = new Random();

private static DirectoryEntry GetRandomUser()
{
    DirectoryEntry luckyGuy;
    var de = new DirectoryEntry(/*conn string*/);
    de.Username = /* your user */;
    de.Password = /* your pass */;

    // error handling and try-catch removed for clarity and brevity
    var s = new DirectorySearcher( de );
    s.Filter = "(objectClass=user)";
    var res = s.FindAll();

    if( res.Count > 0 )
    {
      var idex = rnd.Next(0, res.Count);
      luckyGuy = res[idex].GetDirectoryEntry();
    }

    return luckyGuy;
}

Here's more on DirectorySearcher.