Extending the User Interface for Directory Objects

With Microsoft® Windows® 2000 and later, Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-ins, such as the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in, for administration of Active Directory®, are available. In addition, the Windows 2000 shell includes user interfaces (UIs) for finding objects that reside in the directory and reading and writing properties. This section explains how to extend the UI for viewing and managing Active Directory objects in the Windows shell and Active Directory administrative snap-ins. This section also covers what is required to deploy the UI extensions to the user's desktops.

Specifically, this section discusses the following:

• About Active Directory User Interfaces
• Display Specifiers
• Class and Attribute Display Names
• Class Icons
• Viewing Containers as Leaf Nodes
• Modifying Existing User Interfaces
• User Interface Extension for New Object Classes
• Property Pages for Use with Display Specifiers
• Context Menus for Use with Display Specifiers
• Object Creation Wizards
• Using Standard Dialog Boxes for Handling Active Directory Objects
• Administrative Notification Handlers
• Distributing User Interface Components
• How Applications Should Use Display Specifiers
• Debugging an Active Directory Extension