Directory Object Properties

This section provides information about directory object properties as well as how to use managed code to read and set properties.

For more information about how to programmatically manipulate these properties, see:

• Reading Properties on Directory Objects
• Setting Properties on Directory Objects
• Properties with Multiple Values
• The Property Cache
• Property Types
• Constructed Properties

Directory object data is stored in its properties. Some object properties are required; others are optional.

For more information and a complete list of Active Directory object properties, often called attributes, see Active Directory Schema. This reference contains the LDAP display name, common name, associated class objects, and other property data.

Each property is associated with a syntax, such as string, long, binary, and so on, and a name.

The following diagram shows an object that contains two properties with single values, givenName and sn, and a property with multiple values, memberOf.

In this diagram, DirectoryEntry is the object to which you are bound (LDAP://Fabrikam/CN=Jeff Smith,CN=Users,DC=Fabrikam,DC=com). Properties gets a PropertyCollection object, which contains all of the properties for this DirectoryEntry. To get the value for a specific property, you provide the LDAP display name for that property, which in the diagram is sn. Use the Value property to return the value for sn, which in this case, is Johnson.