how to initalize my ldap connection like a doctrine connection in the bootstrap.php file in zend-framework

Question

i want to use my ldap server as a DB. then i will create persistence classes in the models directory that will extend to Zend_Ldap so that i won't have to write all the CRUD operations but how can i initialize the ldap connection in the bootstrap.php file
for e.g. a database connection using doctrine can be initialized like this, i want to do the same for ldap connection

protected function _initDoctrine()
 {
    $autoloader = Zend_Loader_Autoloader::getInstance();
    $autoloader->registerNamespace('Doctrine');
    $this->getApplication()->getAutoloader()
        ->pushAutoloader(array('Doctrine', 'autoload'));
    spl_autoload_register(array('Doctrine', 'modelsAutoload'));

    $manager = Doctrine_Manager::getInstance();
    $doctrineConfig = $this->getOption('doctrine');
    $manager->setAttribute(Doctrine::ATTR_AUTO_ACCESSOR_OVERRIDE, true);
    $manager->setAttribute(Doctrine::ATTR_AUTOLOAD_TABLE_CLASSES, true);

    Doctrine_Core::loadModels($doctrineConfig['models_path']);

    $conn = Doctrine_Manager::connection($doctrineConfig['dsn'],'doctrine');
    $conn->setAttribute(Doctrine::ATTR_USE_NATIVE_ENUM, true);
 return $conn;
}

but now what i want to do is if i have some thing like this(below) in the models folder

class Application_Model_entry extends Zend_Ldap_Node_collection {

public static function getInstance() {
    $options = Zend_Registry::get('config')->ldap;//i want to avoid this line
    $ldap = new Zend_Ldap($options); // i want to avoid this line
    $dn = $ldap->getBaseDn(); // i want to avoid this line

    $a = new Zend_Ldap_Node_Collection(new Zend_Ldap_Collection_Iterator_Default($ldap,'email')); //also this one 
    return $a;//where $a is an instance of an LDAP entry(node)

}

then in the controller i want to do some thing like a db

$ent = new Application_Model_entry();
$ent->email = "[email protected]";
...
$ent->save();
$ent->update();

how can i initialize the ldap connection and access it in the models so that this could be possible

Answer 1

You can do

protected function _initLdap() 
{
    $ldap = new Zend_Ldap(/*... your configuration ...*/);
    return $ldap;
}

But there is no such thing as a default LDAP connection, so you have to retrieve the LDAP connection object from your bootstrap's resources. Some helper class may, well, help.

By the way your model should not extend Zend_Ldap - at least not for the reason you want to do this. You could e.g. extend Zend_Ldap_Node which is a representation of a single LDAP entry, whilst Zend_Ldap is a representation of the LDAP connection and the LDAP server you're talking to.

EDIT:

class Application_Ldap
{
    public static function getLdap()
    {
        /* return LDAP connection from bootstrap */
    }

    public static function newEntry($name) 
    {
        $dn   = $name; // build DN from given entity name
        $node = Zend_Ldap_Node::create($dn);
        $node->attachLdap(self::getLdap());
        return $node;
    }

    public static function loadEntry($name)
    {
        $dn   = $name; // build DN from given entity name
        $node = Zend_Ldap_Node::fromLdap($dn, self::getLdap());
        return $node
    }
}

Be advised: this is not really a state-of-the-art model, but just a simple solution to your problem (if I understood it correctly). It allows you to do the following in your application logic:

$newOne = Application_Ldap::newEntry('new-one');
$newOne->email = "[email protected]";
$newOne->update();

$oldOne = Application_Ldap::loadEntry('old-one');
$oldOne->email = "[email protected]";
$oldOne->update();