IADsProperty

The IADsProperty interface is designed to manage a single attribute definition for a schema class object. An attribute definition specifies the minimum and maximum values of a property, its syntax, and whether the property supports multiple values. Other interfaces involved in schema management include IADsClass and IADsSyntax.

IADsProperty exposes methods to describe a property by name, syntax, value ranges, and any other attributes that have been defined. A property can have multiple names associated with it. But providers are required to ensure that all names are unique.

You can use the IADsProperty interface to determine at run time the attribute definition of a property supported by a directory service object. The following procedure describes how this can be done.

1. Bind to the ADSI object's schema class object.
2. Enumerate mandatory or optional attributes accessible from the schema class object. Skip this step if you know that the object supports the attribute of your interest.
3. Bind to the schema container of the schema class object as obtained in Step 1.
4. Retrieve from the schema container the attribute definition object of the property of interest.
5. Examine the attribute definition of the property. This may require you to inspect the syntax object as well.

Example Code [Visual Basic]

The following code example illustrates the procedure above for applying the IADsProperty interface to determine attribute definitions of a property.

Dim obj As IADs
Dim cl As IADsClass
Dim pr As IADsProperty
Dim sy As IADsSyntax
Dim sc As IADsContainer
 
' Step 1
Set obj = GetObject("WinNT://myMachine,computer")
Set cl = GetObject(obj.Schema)
 
' Step 2
' Skip it, assuming the "Owner" attribute is supported by obj.
' For the computer object in this example, it is indeed one of 
' the supported optional properties.
 
' step 3
Set sc = GetObject(cl.Parent)
 
' Step 4
Set pr = sc.GetObject("Property","Owner")
 
' Step 5
MsgBox "Attribute: " & pr.Name
MsgBox "Syntax:    " & pr.Syntax
If pr.Multivalued = True Then
    MsgBox "The Owner attribute has multiple values."
Else
    MsgBox "The Owner attribute has a single value."
End If
 
' To further examine the syntax
Set sy = GetObject(sc.AdsPath & "/" & pr.Syntax)
MsgBox "Syntax object: " & sy.Name & " of OleAutoDataType: " & sy.OleAutoDataType

The IADsProperty interface's methods can also be used to add new attributes and property objects to a provider-specific implementation.

The IADsProperty interface supports the following properties and methods.

Methods in Vtable Order

Requirements

  Windows NT/2000: Requires Windows 2000 (or Windows NT 4.0 with DSClient).
  Windows 95/98: Requires Windows 95 or later (with DSClient).
  Header: Declared in Iads.h.

See Also

IADsClass, IADsProperty