CODEWITHSUNDEEP
.netactive-directory
Lisa
Lisa

Reputation: 157

Searching for Contacts in ActiveDirectory (.NET)

I have an application where I need to pull contacts from Active Directory.

Here is the code that I'm using:

Public Function GetADContacts(ByVal LastNameStarts As String) As DirectoryServices.SearchResultCollection
    Dim rootDSE As New DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry("LDAP://RootDSE")
    Dim defaultNamingContext As String = rootDSE.Properties("defaultNamingContext").Value.ToString()
    Dim objSearch As New DirectoryServices.DirectorySearcher()
    Dim cllQueryResults As DirectoryServices.SearchResultCollection

    With objSearch
        .SearchRoot = New DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry("LDAP://" + defaultNamingContext)
        .Filter = "(&(objectclass=contact)(mailNickname=*)(cn=*)(sn=" + LastNameStarts + "*)(givenname=*))"
        .SearchScope = DirectoryServices.SearchScope.Subtree
        .PropertiesToLoad.AddRange(New String() {"cn", "sn", "givenname", "mailNickname"})
        .Sort.PropertyName = "sn"
        .Sort.Direction = DirectoryServices.SortDirection.Ascending
        cllQueryResults = .FindAll()
    End With

    Return cllQueryResults
End Function

I've checked to make sure the contacts have sn, cn, givenname, and mailNickname attributes set, but nothing is returned. When I change the objectcategory to user, I get all the users, but for contacts, I get nothing.

Is there something I'm doing wrong?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1441

Answers (1)

GrindelOh
GrindelOh

Reputation: 446

If you want to search for contacts only your filter should look like this: 

Searcher.Filter = "(&(objectCategory=person)(objectClass=contact))"

Here a little example to get the DN of all contacts:

Dim Searcher As New DirectorySearcher("LDAP://")
Dim QueryResults As SearchResultCollection
Dim Result As SearchResult

Searcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add("distinguishedName")
Searcher.Filter = "(&(objectCategory=person)(objectClass=contact))"

QueryResults = Searcher.FindAll

For Each Result In QueryResults
    Console.WriteLine(Result.Properties("distinguishedName")(0))
Next

Console.ReadLine()

There is a very helpful article on this topic: Active Directory: LDAP Filter Syntax. Sadly I dind't save the link.. I'll try to provide it later.

Upvotes: 1

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