DataBind Active Directory Data to the DevExpress Data Grid

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Active Directory ADO.NET Provider

Rapidly create and deploy powerful .NET applications that integrate with Active Directory Users, Groups, Roles, Contacts, and more!



Use the CData ADO.NET Provider for Active Directory with the DevExpress Windows Forms and Web controls to provide Active Directory data to a chart.

The CData ADO.NET Provider for Active Directory implements standard ADO.NET data access components that can be used with third-party controls. The standard ADO.NET process for databinding can be followed to enable bidirectional access to live data from UI controls. In this article we show how to use the CData components to databind to the DevExpress Windows Forms and Web controls; you will databind to a chart that displays current data.

To establish a connection, set the following properties:

  • Valid User and Password credentials (e.g., Domain\BobF or cn=Bob F,ou=Employees,dc=Domain).
  • Server information, including the IP or host name of the Server, as well as the Port.
  • BaseDN: This will limit the scope of LDAP searches to the height of the distinguished name provided.

    Note: Specifying a narrow BaseDN may greatly increase performance; for example, cn=users,dc=domain will only return results contained within cn=users and its children.

Windows Forms Controls

The code below shows how to populate a DevExpress chart with Active Directory data. The ActiveDirectoryDataAdapter binds to the Series property of the chart control. The Diagram property of the control defines the x- and y-axes as the column names.

using (ActiveDirectoryConnection connection = new ActiveDirectoryConnection( "User=cn=Bob F,ou=Employees,dc=Domain;Password=bob123;Server=10.0.1.2;Port=389;")) { ActiveDirectoryDataAdapter dataAdapter = new ActiveDirectoryDataAdapter( "SELECT Id, LogonCount FROM User", connection); DataTable table = new DataTable(); dataAdapter.Fill(table); DevExpress.XtraCharts.Series series = new DevExpress.XtraCharts.Series(); chartControl1.Series.Add(series); series.DataSource = table; series.ValueDataMembers.AddRange(new string[] { "LogonCount" }); series.ArgumentScaleType = DevExpress.XtraCharts.ScaleType.Qualitative; series.ArgumentDataMember = "Id"; series.ValueScaleType = DevExpress.XtraCharts.ScaleType.Numerical; chartControl1.Legend.Visibility = DevExpress.Utils.DefaultBoolean.False; ((DevExpress.XtraCharts.SideBySideBarSeriesView)series.View).ColorEach = true; }

Web Controls

The code below shows how to populate a DevExpress Web control with Active Directory data. The ActiveDirectoryDataAdapter binds to the Series property of the chart; the Diagram property defines the x- and y-axes as the column names.

using DevExpress.XtraCharts; using (ActiveDirectoryConnection connection = new ActiveDirectoryConnection( "User=cn=Bob F,ou=Employees,dc=Domain;Password=bob123;Server=10.0.1.2;Port=389;")) { ActiveDirectoryDataAdapter ActiveDirectoryDataAdapter1 = new ActiveDirectoryDataAdapter("SELECT Id, LogonCount FROM User", connection); DataTable table = new DataTable(); ActiveDirectoryDataAdapter1.Fill(table); DevExpress.XtraCharts.Series series = new Series("Series1", ViewType.Bar); WebChartControl1.Series.Add(series); series.DataSource = table; series.ValueDataMembers.AddRange(new string[] { "LogonCount" }); series.ArgumentScaleType = ScaleType.Qualitative; series.ArgumentDataMember = "Id"; series.ValueScaleType = ScaleType.Numerical; ((DevExpress.XtraCharts.SideBySideBarSeriesView)series.View).ColorEach = true; }