1.2 Requirements and Resources

In order to develop a DirXML driver, you need a test server running one of the following:

The eDirectory 8.5 server can be installed in an eDirectory tree with servers running earlier versions of eDirectory. You also need a development workstation with JDK 1.17b or later to write a Java DirXML driver, or a development workstation with a suitable compiler to write a C++ driver.

The following sections give you additional details on the requirements and the available resources.

1.2.1 Requirements

The DirXML driver has the following requirements:

  • eDirectory version. The DirXML engine runs on Novell eDirectory 8.5 or later which is available for NetWare, NT, Solaris, Linux and AIX. The DirXML driver (or a portion of the driver) must run on the same computer as the DirXML engine.

  • eDirectory Objects. The DirXML driver requires a number of eDirectory objects: a DirXML-DriverSet object, a DirXML-Driver object, a DirXML-Subscriber object, a DirXML-Publisher object, and DirXML-Rule objects. It can have optional DirXML-StyleSheet objects. NDS eDirectory 8.5 extends the schema to support these objects. Later versions include DirXML schema as part of the base schema.

  • External Application. The application can reside on the eDirectory server or on a remote server. If the application is remote, it must provide a communication method so that the driver running on the eDirectory server can communicate with the remote application. For example, the DirXML driver for the Netscape directory uses LDAP for remote communication.

    The external application must also provide a programming interface that allows the driver to read and write data to the application. Your driver also needs to receive notification of changes from the application. If the external application does not have an event notification system, your driver needs to develop one for the application by logging all modifications to a file, polling the application for modifications, or some other method.

  • Programming Languages. The driver can be written in Java or C++. The sample code supplied is written in C++ and Java. Java requires JDK 1.1.7b or later.

  • XML, XSL and XDS. If the external application does not store the information in XML format, your driver will need to convert the data from its native format to XDS before sending it to eDirectory to store. XDS is the DirXML flavor of XML and is documented in the nds.dtd file. When your driver receives updates from eDirectory, your driver will need to take the XDS formatted data and convert it to the application's native format.

    XSLT (Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations) can be used to transform the XDS format to another variant of XML or another standard format such as LDIF.

1.2.2 Resources

The following list contains several of the resources available to assist you in the creation of a DirXML driver: