Schema Documentation Program

Operating System

Abstract

The Schema Documentation Program, also known as schemadoc.exe, is used to document extensions made to your Active Directory schema. It will search your directory based on a prefix that you give it and copy the information from the classes and attributes that match the prefix into an XML file. All data that is entered during the course of this program, except the Directory Path and password fields, is stored in a file called xml.cfg.

On This Page

Introduction
Running the Program
The XML Output File
Main Dialog Box
Vendor Information Dialog Box
Product Information Dialog Box

Introduction

Schemadoc.exe is a program that is used to document extensions made to your Active Directory™ services schema in the Microsoft® Windows 2000® operating system. The program searches your directory based on a prefix that you give it, and then copies the information from the classes and attributes that match the prefix into an XML file. All data that is entered while the program is running, except the Directory Path and password fields, is stored in a file called xml.cfg.

Running the Program

The program consists of the following two files:

Schemadoc.exe	This is the Visual Basic client program through which the user inputs data. The data from the Vendor and Product dialog boxes is written to the output file and the ActiveX Template Library (ATL) program is called to retrieve information from the directory. This file can be placed anywhere on your computer.
XMLSchema.dll	This ATL program scans your directory for the classes and attributes that match the prefix that you enter. This information is formatted and copied to the output file. Before you can use the DLL, you must register it by typing regsvr32 xmlschema.dll at a DOS prompt or in the Run box on the Start menu .

The XML Output File

The output of the program is copied into the file indicated in the main dialog box, and the file is then displayed in a browser. The output file is divided into vendor, product, class, attribute, and comment sections.

Vendor Section

This section contains the vendor information that was entered in the schemadoc.exe. You can modify this content to add to the data you entered in the program. You may want to save this in a separate file because it will be overwritten each time you run the program unless you change the output file name.

Product Section

The characteristics of the product section are the same as those of the vendor section.

Class Section

In this section, the XMLSchema DLL reads the class's important properties from your directory and then formats the data and adds it to the output file. The program combines system and non-system attributes for the class and lists all of them here.

Attribute Section

In this section, the XMLSchema DLL reads the class's important properties from your directory and then formats the data and adds it to the output file. Only the attributes that match the prefix are documented; other attributes that belong to your documented classes are ignored.

Comments Section

This section contains the comment information that is retrieved from the directory for each class and attribute. The vendor is to supply this information. The comments for each documented class and attribute appear in the same order as in the previous sections of the document, and the classes and attributes are listed by LDAP Display Name.

The sample XML file, template.xml, contains an example of what is expected in each field. In addition, the top of the file contains a description of each comment field that appears in the document. After editing this section, you may want to save it in a separate file because this file will be overwritten each time you run the program unless you change the output file name.

Main Dialog Box

The dialog box below is the first one displayed when you run schemadoc.exe; it is where you enter the setup parameters for running the program. Once the text boxes in this dialog box are filled in, you can run the program. The remaining dialog boxes are for entering data that will be added to the output file. When you have filled in all the textboxes, click Next to go to the Vendor Information dialog box. Click Exit to end the program.

Text Boxes

Directory path	This is the path to the schema for your directory.
Example: LDAP://CN=Schema, CN=Configuration, DC=myComp, DC=com
Domain prefix. .	This field is the prefix that is normally located at the beginning of all the class and attribute names that have been extended in your schema. If you have not used a specific prefix, then enter the name of the class or attribute. This will have to be done for each new class and attribute that you added to the schema.
Output file	The path where you would like the XML file placed. This program will overwrite the existing file, so be sure to copy it or change the name before successive executions of the program.
User name	This is the login ID for the Active Directory being documented. It can be the user ID for the directory or for the distinguished name. If left blank, the program will bind to the directory anonymously.
Example: administrator or cn=administrator, CN=users, DC=myComp, DC=com
Password.	This is the password that is used to login to your active directory. It can be left blank.
Domain.	This is the domain used for authenticating the user. This value will be appended to the user name.
Example: If you enter "mycomp" for the domain and "administrator" for the user, the system will use "mycomp\administrator" when performing authentication.

Vendor Information Dialog Box

This dialog box permits you to enter information about your company. This information is added to the output as comments and is useful to other companies that wish to contact you concerning your schema extensions. When you have filled in the text boxes, click Next to go to the Product Information dialog box. Click Prev to go back to the Main dialog box or click Exit to end the program.

Product Information Dialog Box

In this dialog box, you enter information about the product that the schema extensions represent; this information is then added to the output as comments. This could be helpful to other companies, if they were to install the application, because they would be able to understand the purpose of the schema extensions. Click Prev to go back to the Vendor Information dialog box, Execute to generate the output file, or Exit to end the program. Once the output file has been generated, you may modify any of the text boxes and regenerate the file. Be sure to make a copy of the output file if you do not want it to be overwritten when you run this program again.

Text Boxes

Description	If this field is too small to enter the information that you would like to enter, you may modify the output file after it has been generated.
Version major	The major version number for your product.
Version minor	The minor version number for your product.

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