This function authenticates an LDAP user and returns true or false.

The authenticate, listUsers, lookupUser, and search XPath functions provide the lookup and search functionality to obtain information from the LDAP server (typically, the LDAP user details).

These XPath functions use a configuration file to obtain server access information for the JNDI (for example, context factory, LDAP server provider URL, authenticate type, and so on). The configuration file is named directories.xml and must be placed in the same directory in which the .bpel file for the BPEL project is located. To call these XPath functions, you must provide this file.

The following example shows the format of the directories.xml file:

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<directories>
<directory name='people'>
<property name="java.naming.provider.url">ldap://servername:port</property>
<property
name="java.naming.factory.initial">com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtxFactory</property>
<property name="java.naming.security.principal">[username]</property>
<property name="java.naming.security.authentication">simple</property>
 
<property name="java.naming.security.credentials">[passord]</property>
<property name="entryDN">[entry dn]</property>
 
</directory>
</directories>

The following shows an example of the directories.xml file:

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<directories>
<directory name='people'>
<property
name="java.naming.provider.url">ldap://myhost.us.example.com:7001</property>
<property
name="java.naming.factory.initial">com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtxFactory</property>
<property name="java.naming.security.principal">cn=admin</property>
<property name="java.naming.security.credentials">weblogic</property>
<property name="java.naming.security.authentication">simple</property>
<property name="entryDN">ou=people,ou=myrealm,dc=soainfra</property>
</directory>
</directories>

• Signature:

  ldap:authenticate('directoryName','userId','password')
  

• Parameters:

  • directoryName: The directory name specified in the directories.xml file.

  • userId: The LDAP server login user ID.

  • password: The LDAP server login password.

• Return:

  true or false

  Example:

  ldap:authenticate('people','weblogic','weblogic')
  

  For this XPath function, only two properties must be specified in the directories.xml file:

  • java.naming.provider.url

  • java.naming.factory.initial