Many have probably heard much about LDAP, but have no idea what it is or how it works.
I will not attempt to teach everything there is to know about LDAP, but here is a brief description of the protocol.
LDAP is a protocol for distributing directory information to many different resources. Most commonly it is used as a centralized address book, but it can be much more powerful depending on an organization's needs.
LDAP in its most basic form is a standard way to connect to a database. The database is optimized for read queries. Thus, it retrieves information very quickly, in contrast to additions or updates which are slower.
It is important to note that LDAP most often uses a hierarchal database, rather than a relational database to store data. Therefore, the structure is better represented with a tree than a table.
As a result, SQL syntax will be rendered unusable.
In short, LDAP is a fast way to retrieve centralized, static data containing information about people and/or resources.
Requirements
PHP v.4 (previous versions may work but are untested) compiled with support for LDAP, I.E. --with-ldap.
Publicly accessible LDAP directory. Two are provided in the example.
Overview of Example
1. Setup Public LDAP Server Information
2. Create LDAP Query
3. Connect to LDAP Server
4. Process Query if Connection Was Successful
5. Format Output
6. Close Connection
7. Make HTML Form for Search Interface
8. Echo Results
