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Creating Organizational Units

To create an organizational unit, bind to the object that will contain the organizational unit, create an organizationalUnit object, set its properties, and save the object to the directory store.

Delete a created object with the following code example by Deleting Organizational Units.

The following Visual Basic Scripting Edition code example uses the GetObject function to bind to an organization object and uses the Create method to create an organizationalUnit object in that organization.

' Create AD LDS Organizational Unit.

Option Explicit

Dim objADAM         ' Binding object.
Dim objOU           ' Organizational unit.
Dim strDescription  ' Description of OU.
Dim strOU           ' Organizational unit.
Dim strPath         ' Binding path.

' Construct the binding string.
strPath = "LDAP://localhost:389/O=Fabrikam,C=US"

WScript.Echo "Bind to: " & strPath

' Specify Organizational Unit.
strOU = "OU=TestOU"
strDescription = "AD LDS Test Organizational Unit"

On Error Resume Next

' Bind to object.
Set objADAM = GetObject(strPath)

' Output error if bind fails.
If Err.Number <> vbEmpty Then
    WScript.Echo "Error:   Bind failed."
    WScript.Quit
End If

WScript.Echo "Create:  " & strOU

' Create Organizational Unit.
Set objOU = objADAM.Create("organizationalUnit", strOU)
objOU.Put "description", strDescription
objOU.SetInfo

' Output success or error.
If Err.Number <> vbEmpty Then
    WScript.Echo "Error:   Create failed."
Else
    WScript.Echo "Success: Organizational Unit created."
End If

The following Visual Basic .NET code example uses the DirectoryEntry constructor to bind to an organization object and uses the Add method to create an organizationalUnit object in that organization.

Imports System
Imports System.DirectoryServices

Namespace ADAM_Examples

    Class CreateOU

        '/ <summary>
        '/ Create AD LDS Organizational Unit.
        '/ </summary>

        <STAThread()>  Shared Sub Main()

            Dim objADAM As DirectoryEntry  ' Binding object.
            Dim objOU As DirectoryEntry    ' Organizational unit.
            Dim strDescription As String   ' Description of OU.
            Dim strOU As String            ' Organiztional unit.
            Dim strPath As String          ' Binding path.

            ' Construct the binding string.
            strPath = "LDAP://localhost:389/O=Fabrikam,C=US"

            Console.WriteLine("Bind to: {0}", strPath)

            ' Get AD LDS object.
            Try
                objADAM = New DirectoryEntry(strPath)
                objADAM.RefreshCache()
            Catch e As Exception
                Console.WriteLine("Error:   Bind failed.")
                Console.WriteLine("         {0}", e.Message)
                Return
            End Try

            ' Specify Organizational Unit.
            strOU = "OU=TestOU"
            strDescription = "AD LDS Test Organizational Unit"
            Console.WriteLine("Create:  {0}", strOU)

            ' Create Organizational Unit.
            Try
                objOU = objADAM.Children.Add(strOU, "OrganizationalUnit")
                objOU.Properties("description").Add(strDescription)
                objOU.CommitChanges()
            Catch e As Exception
                Console.WriteLine("Error:   Create failed.")
                Console.WriteLine("         {0}", e.Message)
                Return
            End Try

            ' Output Organizational Unit attributes.
            Console.WriteLine("Success: Create succeeded.")
            Console.WriteLine("Name:    {0}", objOU.Name)
            Console.WriteLine("         {0}", _
                objOU.Properties("description").Value)
            Return

        End Sub 'Main
    End Class 'CreateOU
End Namespace 'ADAM_Examples

The following C# code example in uses the DirectoryEntry constructor to bind to an organization object and uses the Add method to create an organizationalUnit object in that organization.

using System;
using System.DirectoryServices;

namespace ADAM_Examples
{
    class CreateOU
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// Create AD LDS Organizational Unit.
        /// </summary>
        [STAThread]
        static void Main()
        {
            DirectoryEntry objADAM;  // Binding object.
            DirectoryEntry objOU;    // Organizational unit.
            string strDescription;   // Description of OU.
            string strOU;            // Organiztional unit.
            string strPath;          // Binding path.

            // Construct the binding string.
            strPath = "LDAP://localhost:389/O=Fabrikam,C=US";

            Console.WriteLine("Bind to: {0}", strPath);

            // Get AD LDS object.
            try
            {
                objADAM = new DirectoryEntry(strPath);
                objADAM.RefreshCache();
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Error:   Bind failed.");
                Console.WriteLine("         {0}", e.Message);
                return;
            }

            // Specify Organizational Unit.
            strOU = "OU=TestOU";
            strDescription = "AD LDS Test Organizational Unit";
            Console.WriteLine("Create:  {0}", strOU);

            // Create Organizational Unit.
            try
            {
                objOU = objADAM.Children.Add(strOU,
                    "OrganizationalUnit");
                objOU.Properties["description"].Add(strDescription);
                objOU.CommitChanges();
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Error:   Create failed.");
                Console.WriteLine("         {0}", e.Message);
                return;
            }

            // Output Organizational Unit attributes.
            Console.WriteLine("Success: Create succeeded.");
            Console.WriteLine("Name:    {0}", objOU.Name);
            Console.WriteLine("         {0}",
                objOU.Properties["description"].Value);
            return;
        }
    }
}

The following C++ code example in shows how to add an organizational unit to an application partition directory using Active Directory Service Interfaces (ADSI). The example uses the IADsContainer::Create and the IADs::SetInfo methods. For more information about adding objects using ADSI, see Creating and Deleting Objects.

The function takes a binary string that contains the binding data and another binary string contains the relative name of the organizational unit. For example, the function accepts:

  • "bstrADsPath = "LDAP://localhost:389/O=fabrikam,c=US"
  • "bstrRelativeName = "OU=Accounting""

This examples assumes that you have set up your development environment for ADSI. For more information, see Setting Up Visual C++ 6.0 for ADSI Development.

HRESULT CreateOU( BSTR bstrADsPath, BSTR bstrRelativeName)
{
    
    HRESULT hr = NULL;
    
    IADsContainer* pContainer = NULL;
    
    // Initialize COM.
    CoInitialize(NULL);  
    
    // Bind to the container.
    hr = ADsGetObject ( 
    
                        bstrADsPath, 
                        
                        IID_IADsContainer, 
                        
                        (void**) &amp;pContainer;
                        
                      );
    
    if ( SUCCEEDED(hr) )
    {
        
        IDispatch* pDisp = NULL;
        
        IADs* pOrganizationalUnit = NULL;
        
        // Create the new organizational unit.
        hr = pContainer->Create( 
        
                                 CComBSTR("organizationalUnit"), 
                                 
                                 bstrRelativeName, 
                                 
                                 &amp;pDisp;
                                 
                               );
        
        if ( SUCCEEDED(hr) )
        
        {
        
           hr = pDisp->QueryInterface( 
                                
                                        IID_IADs, 
                                        
                                        (void**) &amp;pOrganizationalUnit;
   
                                     );
           
           if ( SUCCEEDED(hr) )
           
           {
            
                // Commit newly created organizational unit to the
                // directory.
                hr = pOrganizationalUnit->SetInfo();
                
                if ( !SUCCEEDED(hr) )
                
                {
                
                    wprintf(L"Error 0x%x occurred. Container not created.\n", hr);
                                        
                    return hr;
                
                }        
                
            }
            
            
            // Release the IDispatch object.
            pDisp->Release();
            
        }
        
        // Release the organizational unit object.
        pOrganizationalUnit->Release();
    
    }
    
    // Release the container object.
    pContainer->Release();
    
    CoUninitialize();

}