System.DirectoryServices vs system.directoryservices.accountmanagement

Question

Hello:

I have an array (propertyList) that contains the names of certain Active Directory properties whose data I want to retrieve. Using Ironpython and .NET library System.DirectoryServices I solve the retrieval of properties to be loaded in this way:

for propertyActDir in propertyList:
    obj.PropertiesToLoad.Add(propertyActDir)
res = obj.FindAll()
myDict = {}
for sr in res:
    for prop in propertyList:
        myDict[prop] = getField(prop,sr.Properties[prop][0])

The function getField is mine. How can I solve the same situation using the library system.directoryservices.accountmanagement? I think it is not possible.

Thanks.

Answer 1

Yes, you're right - System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement builds on System.DirectoryServices and was introduced with .NET 3.5. It makes common Active Directory tasks easier. If you need any special properties you need to fall back to System.DirectoryServices.

See this C# code sample for usage:

// Connect to the current domain using the credentials of the executing user:
PrincipalContext currentDomain = new PrincipalContext(ContextType.Domain);
// Search the entire domain for users with non-expiring passwords:
UserPrincipal userQuery = new UserPrincipal(currentDomain);
userQuery.PasswordNeverExpires = true;
PrincipalSearcher searchForUser = new PrincipalSearcher(userQuery);
foreach (UserPrincipal foundUser in searchForUser.FindAll())
{
  Console.WriteLine("DistinguishedName: " + foundUser.DistinguishedName);
  // To get the countryCode-attribute you need to get the underlying DirectoryEntry-object:
  DirectoryEntry foundUserDE = (DirectoryEntry)foundUser.GetUnderlyingObject();
  Console.WriteLine("Country Code: " + foundUserDE.Properties["countryCode"].Value);
}

Answer 2

System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement (excellent MSDN article on it here) is designed to help you more easily manage user and groups, e.g.

• find users and groups
• create users and groups
• set specific properties on users and groups

It is not designed to handle "generic" property management like you describe - in that case, simply keep on using System.DirectoryServices, there's nothing stopping you from doing this!

Marc