CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#asp.netactive-directory
kazinix
kazinix

Reputation: 30123

Is Guid of a User in ActiveDirectory Nullable?

I'm using ASP.NET MVC and here's my Model:

public class AdContactInfo
{
    public Guid Guid { get; set; }
    public string FullName { get; set; }
}

Then using this code snippet, I'm trying to search for list of users:

using (var searcher = new PrincipalSearcher(new UserPrincipal(principal) { DisplayName = term + "*" }))
{
    var result = searcher.FindAll();
    foreach (var item in result)
    {
        list.Add(new AdContactInfo
            { FullName = item.Name, 
              Guid = item.Guid });
    }
}

I'm surprised that the line Guid = item.Guid has an error saying item.Guid is Nullable and cannot be converted to Guid.

After some research, I didn't find any result that says Guid of User in ActiveDirectory can contain null. However, I found an article that says if I set the ContextType to Machine it will always return to null.

I want to know why it is Nullable.

Upvotes: 2

Views: 301

Answers (2)

mobyplum
mobyplum

Reputation: 1

I know this is an old question, but I found this today - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/openspecs/windows_protocols/ms-adts/dd4dc725-021b-4c8c-a44a-49b3235836b7

No actual object has objectGUID equal to the NULL GUID. The root object has parent equal to the NULL GUID.

Upvotes: 0

marc_s
marc_s

Reputation: 755177

The Guid property on the UserPrincipal class is inherited from the base Principal class, where it's defined as Nullable<Guid>. That's just the way it is - you need to deal with this.

Why this was chosen to be defined as nullable - I don't know. From my experience with AD, all the objects you come across that descend from Principal - groups, computers, users etc. - will have a GUID assigned.

Upvotes: 2

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