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The LDAP ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live LDAP directory services, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access LDAP objects like you would a database - define custom tables for any ObjectClass, and then perform SQL queries through a standard ODBC Driver interface.

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Viewing LDAP Objects in RAD Studio Data Explorer


How to view LDAP objects in RAD Studio Data Explorer using the CData ODBC Driver for LDAP.

Embarcadero RAD Studio provides a development environment for Delphi and C++Builder applications. With the CData ODBC Driver for LDAP, you gain access to live LDAP objects within RAD Studio, abstracting the data into tables, views, and stored procedures that can be used to both retrieve and update LDAP objects. This article will walk through connecting to LDAP using the Data Explorer.

Configure a Connection to LDAP

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

To establish a connection, the following properties under the Authentication section must be provided:

  • 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.

Connecting to LDAP Objects Using Data Explorer

You can create a simple application for displaying LDAP objects by utilizing the CData FireDAC Components for LDAP and a new VCL Forms Application:

  1. Open the Data Explorer in RAD Studio and expand FireDAC.
  2. Right-click the ODBC Data Source node in the Data Explorer.
  3. Click Add New Connection.
  4. Enter a name for the connection.
  5. In the FireDAC Connection Editor that appears, set the DataSource property to the name of the ODBC DSN for LDAP.
  6. Back in the Data Explorer, expand the tables for the connection.

  7. Create a new VCL Forms application and drag a table (for example: User) onto the form.

  8. Select the UserTable object on the form and set the Active property to true.

  9. Right-click on the object, bind visually, and link everything (*) to a new control (TStringGrid).

  10. Arrange the TStringGrid on the form and run the application to see the User data.