# LDAP - binding and selection lists

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ldap-binding-and-selection-lists/173527>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [August 10, 2009, 11:56pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ldap-binding-and-selection-lists/173527 "2009-08-10T23:56:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![KTKTKT](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/8797f3/32.png) [@KTKTKT](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/KTKTKT)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 11:56pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ldap-binding-and-selection-lists/173527/1 "2009-08-10T23:56:29Z")

</div>

Hi all, Let me apologize in advance if I’m overcomplicating my  
post…

I currently use AuthLogic along with this LDAP validation method in  
the User model :

class User \< ActiveRecord::Base  
def valid\_ldap\_credentials?(password\_plaintext)  
ldap = Net::LDAP.new  
ldap.host = ‘hostname’  
ldap.auth “AD\” + self.username, password\_plaintext  
ldap.bind  
end  
end

I also have an LDAP controller that runs LDAP searches to populate  
arrays,  
such as this one that returns a list of all active usernames:

class LdapController \< ApplicationController  
def ldap\_users  
ldap = Net::LDAP.new  
ldap.host = ‘hostname’  
ldap.bind  
ldap.auth(‘AD\username’, ‘password’)  
treebase = “ou=blah, dc=blah, dc=com”  
filter1 = Net::LDAP::Filter.eq(“objectCategory”,“user”)  
filter2 = Net::LDAP::Filter.eq(“userAccountControl”,“512”)  
attrs = [“cn”]  
@usernames = Array.new  
ldap.search(:base =\> treebase,  
:filter =\> filter1 & filter2,  
:attributes =\> attrs ) do |entry|  
@usernames \<\< [entry.cn](http://entry.cn)  
end  
end  
end

What I’d like to do, however, is to somehow hold my LDAP binding  
session at the time of login, and be able to use it throughout the  
application. For instance, I want to create a  
selection list of ldap\_users, from which a user can select his  
manager’s name, which would be saved in the user’s record in my  
application database(basically, I need the user to enter his manager’s  
username, but the LDAP search method would validate the username so we  
know it’s a valid name).

Maybe I’m overcomplicating it, but how would I hold my LDAP session  
information so that non "User"controllers can use it? So, for  
instance, the LDAP Controller could look like this instead:

class LdapController \< ApplicationController  
def ldap\_users  
ldap = [user session information that is validated and bound to  
LDAP]  
treebase = “ou=blah, dc=blah, dc=com”  
filter1 = Net::LDAP::Filter.eq(“objectCategory”,“user”)  
filter2 = Net::LDAP::Filter.eq(“userAccountControl”,“512”)  
attrs = [“cn”]  
@usernames = Array.new  
ldap.search(:base =\> treebase,  
:filter =\> filter1 & filter2,  
:attributes =\> attrs ) do |entry|  
@usernames \<\< [entry.cn](http://entry.cn)  
end  
end  
end

Does that make sense?

Also, if anyone knows how to get a selection list out of the  
“@usernames” array created above, that would be an awesome help.  
Since the values are coming from LDAP dynamically, and not from a  
table in my application’s database, I don’t know the syntax for  
creating the selection list. This is how I would create a selection  
list from tables in my database:

\<%= select( “user”, “department\_id”, Department.find( :all, :order =\>  
“name” ).collect { |c| [c.name, c.id] }, { :include\_blank =\>  
true, :order =\> “name” })%\>

…but how would I pull the attributes from the @usernames array I  
created in the ldap\_users method to populate a selection list?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions or guidance…