Adding Directory Objects

To add new directory objects, use the Children property of the DirectoryEntry class. The Children property returns a DirectoryEntries object that exposes the Add method.

To add an object, bind to the container that the object is to be added to and, after adding the object, call CommitChanges to save the object from the cache to the directory. The following code example shows how to use the Add method to add new objects.

[Visual Basic .NET]
Try
	' Bind to the Users container, add a new group and a new contact.
	Dim de As New DirectoryEntry("LDAP://CN=Users,DC=fabrikam,DC=com")
	Dim newGroup As DirectoryEntry = de.Children.Add("CN=Sales", "group")
	newGroup.CommitChanges()
	Dim newContact As DirectoryEntry = de.Children.Add("CN=New Contact", "contact")
	newContact.CommitChanges()
	' Bind to the Computers container and add a new computer.
	Dim de01 As New DirectoryEntry("LDAP://CN=Computers,DC=fabrikam,DC=com")
	Dim newComputer As DirectoryEntry = de01.Children.Add("CN=New Computer", "computer")
	newGroup.CommitChanges()
Catch Exception1 As Exception
	If (True) Then
		' If a COMException is thrown, then the following code can catch the text of the error.
		' For instructions about handling COM exceptions, see Handling Errors.
		Dim COMEx As System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException = CType(Exception1, System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException)
		Console.WriteLine(COMEx.ErrorCode)
	End If
End Try

[C#]
try
{
	// Bind to the Users container, add a new group and a new contact.
	DirectoryEntry de = new DirectoryEntry("LDAP://CN=Users,DC=fabrikam,DC=com");
	DirectoryEntry newGroup = de.Children.Add("CN=Sales", "group");
	newGroup.CommitChanges();
	DirectoryEntry newContact = de.Children.Add("CN=New Contact", "contact");
	newContact.CommitChanges();
	// Bind to the Computers container and add a new computer.
	DirectoryEntry de01 = new DirectoryEntry("LDAP://CN=Computers,DC=fabrikam,DC=com");
	DirectoryEntry newComputer = de01.Children.Add("CN=New Computer", "computer");
	newGroup.CommitChanges();
}
catch (Exception Exception1)
{
	// If a COMException is thrown, then the following code can catch the text of the error.
	// For instructions about handling COM exceptions, see Handling Errors.
	System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException COMEx = 
	 (System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException) Exception1;
	Console.WriteLine(COMEx.ErrorCode);
}

After adding a new object, you can use the Exists method if you would like to verify an entry is in the directory. This method is provided in the DirectoryEntry class. The following code example shows how to use Exists.

[Visual Basic .NET]
Dim ds As New System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry()
If ds.Exists("LDAP://CN=Sales,CN=Users,DC=fabrikam,DC=com") = True Then
   Console.WriteLine("object exists")
Else
   Console.WriteLine("object does not exist")
End If

   Console.Read()

[C#]
if (DirectoryEntry.Exists("LDAP://CN=Sales,CN=Users,DC=fabrikam,DC=com"))
	Console.WriteLine("object exists");
else
	Console.WriteLine("object does not exist");