WWW/HTTP - X.500/LDAP Gateway HELP

Read of Directory entries

The attributes of an entry will be shown. Some attributes are handled in a special way:

• Attributes containing a DN (see Also, roleOccupant) are Hypertext links to this DN.
• Attributes containg an E-Mail address could be linked with a special action (mailto:).
• Of course, attributes containing an URI (labeledURI) are shown as Hypertext link to this URI.
• Photos are either displayed as inline images or may be downloaded via Hypertext links. (JPEG Photos as JPEG or GIF images, dependent on your client, G3Fax Photos as GIF images).
• Audio data can be retrieved via Hypertext link.

Dependent on the configuration there will be "special actions" for an entry as well, e.g. links (e.g. "Show more attributes") or search actions (e.g. list children).

Browse

Entries below a node may be listed as Hypertext links, sorted by objectclasses. Special attributes may be shown (e.g. description) with the entry name (server configurable or via URL). A "Move upwards" list or menu allows to go upwards in the Directory tree.

Search

In most pages you will find an input field to type in a search item and buttons to start search or erase input. At the upper levels of the Directory tree (root or country level) searches are assumed to be for countries, organizations or localities and are one-level in scope. At the lower levels of the tree (organization or organizationalunit level) searches are assumed to be for people and are subtree in scope. This default search strategy is configurable by your web500gw administrator.

User friendly name (UFN) searching is supported, simply type in:

Name, Organzation, Country

You can specify complex search filters in URL's, but there is currently no interactive search form for this.

Modify

To modify an entry you have to bind to the Directory. Currently only Simple Authentication is supported (plain password). It is possible to authenticate as a Manager to modify another entry. After successful binding you get a form containing the modifyable attributes.

Web500gw is written by Frank Richter, Technical University of Chemnitz, Germany. The code is based on the Gopher - LDAP gateway (go500gw) implementation by Tim Howes, Netscape Communications Corp. Many thanks to Mark Smith, Netscape Communications Corp., Rakesh Patel, Rutgers University and Hallvard B Furuseth, Oslo University for their contributions. Thanks to all the others for their fixes, suggestions, hints, questions.

If you have comments, suggestions or questions about this gateway, please send email to Frank.Richter@Hrz.TU-Chemnitz.DE.

Please note: The author is not responsible for the completeness or correctness of the data in the Directory System!

For more information on Directories, X.500 and LDAP please refer to

• the Directory Services pages at Bath University, UK.
• X.500 information at NEXOR
• LDAP information at the University of Michigan.