vb.net pulling data from Active Directory using GC:// not LDAP://

Question

vb.net pulling data from Active Directory using GC:// not LDAP://

Ryan Lashway 61

I have the following code and this works, but I can not pull the additional PropertiesToLoad.Add values without it giving me blank records instead of data.

When I run the below code it will list all devices/objects in an OU, but if I add "disabled", "FullName" or any other AD attribute it just returns the correct number of records but no data for them.

I have to use GC:// as LDAP is not authorized on our network.

Try
dgview_ADUserListing.Rows.Clear() &#39; Clearing datagridview previous values
Dim rootentry as New DirectoryEntry(&#34;GC://&#34; &amp; SelectedContainerValue.Text) &#39;selected containervalue is a textbox populated via a click event on a treeview
Dim searcher as New DirectorySearcher(rootentry)
searcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add(&#34;canonicalName&#34;)
searcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add(&#34;fullname&#34;)
searcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add(&#34;Name&#34;)
searcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add(&#34;Disabled&#34;)

Dim results as SearchResultCollection
results = searcher.FindAll()
Dim ResultOU, ItemFullName, ItemName as String
Dim itemDisabled as Boolean
Dim result as SearchResult


For Each result in results
ResultOU= result.Properties(&#34;canonicalName&#34;)(0)
ItemName = result.Properties(&#34;name&#34;)(0).ToString()
dgview_ADUserListing.Rows.Add(ItemName, ResultOU)
Next

Jiachen Li-MSFT 34,221 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2023-01-19T09:18:19.9733333+00:00

Hi @Ryan Lashway ,

May I know if your problem has been solved or not?

If not, please It will be great if you can share more detailed information for us to better investigate this issue.

If solved, you could accept the helpful answer to change its status to Answered. It will also help others to solve the similar issue.

Thanks for your cooperation.

1 answer

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Jiachen Li-MSFT 34,221 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2023-01-19T09:18:19.9733333+00:00

Hi @Ryan Lashway ,

May I know if your problem has been solved or not?

If not, please It will be great if you can share more detailed information for us to better investigate this issue.

If solved, you could accept the helpful answer to change its status to Answered. It will also help others to solve the similar issue.

Thanks for your cooperation.

Answer 1

Michael Taylor 60,161

I'm not sure what you mean by returning the correct # of records but no data. However if you ask for a property that doesn't exist then you get the result with no data. You didn't specify an example query nor whether you were using any filters so it is hard to confirm whether the properties you're searching for are actually defined or not. Perhaps you should consider using an AD explorer (like ADExplorer from Sysinternals) to see what the AD schema is.

In my case if I filter on computers only then Disabled and fullName don't apply. name works though. This may just be a case of you trying to load properties that don't exist on the objects you're returning.

Ryan Lashway 61 Reputation points

2023-01-10T18:06:26.077+00:00

I am applying my filer on the rootentry, as this is passing the AD OU to return all objects within the OU.

As for the fullname I receive an index error, while name will returns results.

My process is working, it sees the number of object in the query, but if I change the sought values to anything else I just get blank records (but the right number of returned records). Name returns the OU value and object value.

So using anonicalName I get John Doe, then name gives me Domain/OU/objectname.
Michael Taylor 60,161 Reputation points

2023-01-10T18:40:23.447+00:00
I think you're getting blank records because the properties don't exist on the objects you're quering. canonicalName is the only common property all objects will have given your existing query. The other properties depend on the object. name tends to be valid but fullName doesn't exist (at least in my AD). displayName works for users but wouldn't exist on a computer.

You may want to consider checking to see if the property exists on the object before trying to add a row with it. The PropertyNames on the Properties of the result gives you this. So you could query for all the properties you want and then check to see if a property is on the specific result you want.

For Each result In results For Each prop In result.Properties.PropertyNames For Each value In result.Properties(prop) ... Next Next Next
Ryan Lashway 61 Reputation points

2023-01-10T19:39:57.577+00:00

I will have to look into this more, as I have not used this process before and am not familiar with it

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vb.net pulling data from Active Directory using GC:// not LDAP://

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