Release Notes for Smalltalk LDAP SDK Version 3.05.

1) The class structure, instance variable names, and most method names mirror their counterparts from the Netscape Java SDK.  This allows enhancements to the original Java SDK to be made in the Smalltalk SDK more easily.  It also allows leveraging of the original Java SDK documentation, which can currently be found at:

http://developer.netscape.com/docs/manuals/dirsdk/jsdk30/index.htm

One major departure is that embedded classes, notably classes LDAPConnThread and ResponseControl from the original LDAPConnection class, have been created as separate regular classes.  Java interfaces have been ignored in this Smalltalk implementation.

2) See the examples on the class side of class LDAPConnection.  Examples are provided for various types of inquiry and searching, iterating over results, support for LDAP URLs, add/modify/delete of directory entries, schema inquiry, and so on.  The examples cover most of the common uses for the SDK in typical applications.

3) Category LDAP-Tools contains several application models for simple LDAP based browsers.

4) The current release of this VW Smalltalk LDAP SDK does not include support for SSL, although the "hooks" are all there should a class structure to implement SSL encryption become available.

5) Class BERBitString is currently undeclared.  This BER encoding type does not appear to be used in the Netscape LDAP implementation as of version 4.0 (certificates are encoded as Octet Strings, i.e. ByteArrays).  I am trying to determine the best way to model bit strings in Smalltalk (the Java SDK used the built-in Java BitSet class), and whether it will even be worth the trouble.  Let me know if you find you need this class.

6) This SDK should be considered to be "beta" level.  It has been tested against the Netscape LDAP Director Server Versions 3.1 and 4.0, and has been found to work except as noted below.

Questions can be addressed to Matt Rosen (mrosen@sjcoe.net)

KNOWN BUGS AND LIMITATIONS

A) Asynchronous search (i.e. specifying a batch size in the LDAPSearchConstraint other than zero) sometimes indicates that no more results are available when in fact they have just not arrived yet.  Hack: Inserting a delay scaled based on the specified batch size in method 

LDAPConnThread>>searchForDN:scope:filter:attributes:attributesOnly:constraints:

takes care of this problem (a comment for the delay appears in the appropriate location).  When in doubt, use the default synchronous search.

B) No support for SSL based authentication.  See note above.

C) Server side controls do not currently seem to work with Netscape LDAP Server versions 3.1 and 4.0.  See Example 11 in class LDAPConnection.

D) Automatic following of LDAP referrals has not been tested.

USEFUL RESOURCES

"Understanding and Deploying LDAP Directory Services"
	Howes, Smith, and Good
	1999, MacMillan Technical Publishing
	ISBN 1-57870-070-1

"LDAP Programming with Java"
	By Rob Weltman, Tony Dahbura
	2000, Published by Addison-Wesley
	ISBN 0-20165-758-9
	Detailed description of the Netscape LDAP Java Software Development Kit
	by the principle implementers.

Netscape Java Directory SDK Java Programmer's Guide
	http://developer.netscape.com/docs/manuals/dirsdk/jsdk30/index.htm