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Active Directory to hCard Web Service

I’ve been playing around further with microformats this week and I decided to come up with something practical I could use to transfer contact information between apps. As a starting point because most of my contact information is stored in active directory I wanted something that would be able to convert an Active Directory user object into a hCard contact. As a conduit I decided to go with a WebService as this was something that could be easily integrated into everything from a script to a fully blown windows application. There are some good tools already out there that can deal with the information once its in hCard form like Tails for Firefox or Technorati Contacts Feed Service .

The webservice itself is pretty basic it takes the useraccount name as an input parameter for which account you want to convert and then it returns a XML document that contains the user account information that has been extracted from various active directory attributes using the System.directoryservice namespace and then formatted as a hcard using the XMLtextwriter. Because the hcard format is based on the vcard format matching the information from AD wasn’t that hard (although a little time consuming) the only thing that took at little time to work out was mapping the office attribute to the extended-address.

What can you do with hcard’s probably the one of the best examples at the moment in the Live clipboard. Its still an emerging standard but the coolest thing about it is once you have the contact information in a hcard format its very easy to work with as compared to a standard vcard.

I put a downloadable copy of the code here the code itself looks like


using System;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Services;
using System.Web.Services.Protocols;
using System.DirectoryServices;
using System.Xml;
using System.IO;

[WebService(Namespace = "http://msgdev.mvps.org/ADhCardv2/")]
[WebServiceBinding(ConformsTo = WsiProfiles.BasicProfile1_1)]
public class Service : System.Web.Services.WebService
{
public Service () {

//Uncomment the following line if using designed components
//InitializeComponent();
}
public SearchResult GetADAccount(string snSamaccountname)
{

SearchResult srSearchResult;
DirectorySearcher dsDirectorySearcher = new DirectorySearcher();
string roRootDSE = dsDirectorySearcher.SearchRoot.Path;
DirectoryEntry deDirectoryEntry = new DirectoryEntry(roRootDSE);
dsDirectorySearcher.SearchScope = SearchScope.Subtree;
dsDirectorySearcher.Filter = "(sAMAccountName=" + snSamaccountname + ")";
dsDirectorySearcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add("co");
dsDirectorySearcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add("company");
dsDirectorySearcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add("displayName");
dsDirectorySearcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add("department");
dsDirectorySearcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add("distinguishedName");
dsDirectorySearcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add("description");
dsDirectorySearcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add("facsimileTelephoneNumber");
dsDirectorySearcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add("givenName");
dsDirectorySearcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add("homePhone");
dsDirectorySearcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add("info");
dsDirectorySearcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add("initials");
dsDirectorySearcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add("l");
dsDirectorySearcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add("mail");
dsDirectorySearcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add("middleName");
dsDirectorySearcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add("mobile");
dsDirectorySearcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add("name");
dsDirectorySearcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add("physicalDeliveryOfficeName");
dsDirectorySearcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add("postalCode");
dsDirectorySearcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add("postOfficeBox");
dsDirectorySearcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add("pager");
dsDirectorySearcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add("sn");
dsDirectorySearcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add("st");
dsDirectorySearcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add("streetAddress");
dsDirectorySearcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add("telephoneNumber");
dsDirectorySearcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add("title");
dsDirectorySearcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add("wWWHomePage");
srSearchResult = dsDirectorySearcher.FindOne();
return srSearchResult;
}
public XmlDocument CreatehCard(SearchResult srSearchResult)
{
string fnFirstname = "";
string snSurname = "";
string mnMiddleName = "";
string wwURLwebsite = "";
string emEmailAddress = "";
string hpHomephone = "";
string mpMobilephone = "";
string bpBusinessphone = "";
string saStreetAddress = "";
string pbPostofficeBox = "";
string stState = "";
string sbSuburb = "";
string cnCountry = "";
string pcPostcode = "";
string fnFaxNumber = "";
string tnTitle = "";
string cncompanyName = "";
string dnDepartmentName = "";
string noNote = "";
string eaExtendedAddress = "";


if (srSearchResult.Properties.Contains("givenName")) { fnFirstname = (string)srSearchResult.Properties["givenName"][0]; }
if (srSearchResult.Properties.Contains("sn")) { snSurname = (string)srSearchResult.Properties["sn"][0]; }
if (srSearchResult.Properties.Contains("middleName")) { mnMiddleName = (string)srSearchResult.Properties["middleName"][0]; }
if (srSearchResult.Properties.Contains("wWWHomePage")) { wwURLwebsite = (string)srSearchResult.Properties["wWWHomePage"][0]; }
if (srSearchResult.Properties.Contains("homePhone")) { hpHomephone = (string)srSearchResult.Properties["homePhone"][0]; }
if (srSearchResult.Properties.Contains("mobile")) { mpMobilephone = (string)srSearchResult.Properties["mobile"][0]; }
if (srSearchResult.Properties.Contains("telephoneNumber")) { bpBusinessphone = (string)srSearchResult.Properties["telephoneNumber"][0]; }
if (srSearchResult.Properties.Contains("mail")) { emEmailAddress = (string)srSearchResult.Properties["mail"][0]; }
if (srSearchResult.Properties.Contains("l")) { sbSuburb = (string)srSearchResult.Properties["l"][0]; }
if (srSearchResult.Properties.Contains("postalCode")) { pcPostcode = (string)srSearchResult.Properties["postalCode"][0]; }
if (srSearchResult.Properties.Contains("streetAddress")) { saStreetAddress = (string)srSearchResult.Properties["streetAddress"][0]; }
if (srSearchResult.Properties.Contains("co")) { cnCountry = (string)srSearchResult.Properties["co"][0]; }
if (srSearchResult.Properties.Contains("st")) { stState = (string)srSearchResult.Properties["st"][0]; }
if (srSearchResult.Properties.Contains("facsimileTelephoneNumber")) { fnFaxNumber = (string)srSearchResult.Properties["facsimileTelephoneNumber"][0]; }
if (srSearchResult.Properties.Contains("postOfficeBox")) { pbPostofficeBox = (string)srSearchResult.Properties["postOfficeBox"][0]; }
if (srSearchResult.Properties.Contains("title")) { tnTitle = (string)srSearchResult.Properties["title"][0]; }
if (srSearchResult.Properties.Contains("company")) { cncompanyName = (string)srSearchResult.Properties["company"][0]; }
if (srSearchResult.Properties.Contains("department")) { dnDepartmentName = (string)srSearchResult.Properties["department"][0]; }
if (srSearchResult.Properties.Contains("description")) { noNote = (string)srSearchResult.Properties["description"][0]; }
if (srSearchResult.Properties.Contains("physicalDeliveryOfficeName")) { eaExtendedAddress = (string)srSearchResult.Properties["physicalDeliveryOfficeName"][0]; }

XmlDocument hcHcardDocuemnt = new XmlDocument();
StringWriter xsXmlString = new StringWriter();
XmlWriter xrXmlWritter = new XmlTextWriter(xsXmlString);
// write Div
xrXmlWritter.WriteStartDocument();
xrXmlWritter.WriteStartElement("div");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("class", "vcard");

//Name Element
xrXmlWritter.WriteStartElement("a");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("class","url fn n");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("href", wwURLwebsite);
xrXmlWritter.WriteStartElement("span");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("class", "given-name");
xrXmlWritter.WriteValue(fnFirstname);
xrXmlWritter.WriteEndElement();
if (mnMiddleName != "")
{
xrXmlWritter.WriteStartElement("span");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("class", "additional-name");
xrXmlWritter.WriteValue(mnMiddleName);
xrXmlWritter.WriteEndElement();
}
xrXmlWritter.WriteStartElement("span");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("class", "family-name");
xrXmlWritter.WriteValue(snSurname);
xrXmlWritter.WriteEndElement();
// End Name element
// Email Element Start
xrXmlWritter.WriteEndElement();
xrXmlWritter.WriteStartElement("a");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("class", "email fn");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("href","mailto:" + emEmailAddress);
xrXmlWritter.WriteValue(fnFirstname + " " + snSurname);
xrXmlWritter.WriteEndElement();
if (bpBusinessphone != "")
{
//Primary Telephone Element
xrXmlWritter.WriteStartElement("div");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("class", "tel");
xrXmlWritter.WriteStartElement("span");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("class", "value");
xrXmlWritter.WriteValue(bpBusinessphone);
xrXmlWritter.WriteEndElement();
xrXmlWritter.WriteStartElement("abbr");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("class", "type");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("title", "work");
xrXmlWritter.WriteValue("business");
xrXmlWritter.WriteEndElement();
xrXmlWritter.WriteEndElement();
}
//Home Telephone Elemenet
if (hpHomephone != "")
{
xrXmlWritter.WriteStartElement("div");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("class", "tel");
xrXmlWritter.WriteStartElement("span");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("class", "value");
xrXmlWritter.WriteValue(hpHomephone);
xrXmlWritter.WriteEndElement();
xrXmlWritter.WriteStartElement("abbr");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("class", "type");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("title", "home");
xrXmlWritter.WriteValue("home");
xrXmlWritter.WriteEndElement();
xrXmlWritter.WriteEndElement();
}
//Mobile Phone Elemenet
if (mpMobilephone != "")
{
xrXmlWritter.WriteStartElement("div");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("class", "tel");
xrXmlWritter.WriteStartElement("span");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("class", "value");
xrXmlWritter.WriteValue(mpMobilephone);
xrXmlWritter.WriteEndElement();
xrXmlWritter.WriteStartElement("abbr");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("class", "type");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("title", "cell");
xrXmlWritter.WriteValue("cell");
xrXmlWritter.WriteEndElement();
xrXmlWritter.WriteEndElement();
}
//Fax Elemenet
if (fnFaxNumber != "")
{
xrXmlWritter.WriteStartElement("div");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("class", "tel");
xrXmlWritter.WriteStartElement("span");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("class", "value");
xrXmlWritter.WriteValue(fnFaxNumber);
xrXmlWritter.WriteEndElement();
xrXmlWritter.WriteStartElement("abbr");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("class", "type");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("title", "fax");
xrXmlWritter.WriteValue("fax");
xrXmlWritter.WriteEndElement();
xrXmlWritter.WriteEndElement();
}
// Address Element
xrXmlWritter.WriteStartElement("div");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("class", "adr");
xrXmlWritter.WriteStartElement("span");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("class", "type");
xrXmlWritter.WriteValue("work");
xrXmlWritter.WriteEndElement();
if (pbPostofficeBox != "")
{
xrXmlWritter.WriteStartElement("span");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("class", "post-office-box");
xrXmlWritter.WriteString(pbPostofficeBox);
xrXmlWritter.WriteEndElement();
}
if (eaExtendedAddress != "")
{
xrXmlWritter.WriteStartElement("span");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("class", "extended-address");
xrXmlWritter.WriteString(eaExtendedAddress);
xrXmlWritter.WriteEndElement();
}
if (saStreetAddress != "")
{
xrXmlWritter.WriteStartElement("span");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("class", "street-address");
xrXmlWritter.WriteString(saStreetAddress);
xrXmlWritter.WriteEndElement();
}
if (sbSuburb != "")
{
xrXmlWritter.WriteStartElement("span");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("class", "locality");
xrXmlWritter.WriteString(sbSuburb);
xrXmlWritter.WriteEndElement();
}
if (stState != "")
{
xrXmlWritter.WriteStartElement("span");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("class", "region");
xrXmlWritter.WriteString(stState);
xrXmlWritter.WriteEndElement();
}
if (cnCountry != "")
{
xrXmlWritter.WriteStartElement("span");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("class", "country-name");
xrXmlWritter.WriteString(cnCountry);
xrXmlWritter.WriteEndElement();
}
if (pcPostcode != "")
{
xrXmlWritter.WriteStartElement("span");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("class", "postal-code");
xrXmlWritter.WriteString(pcPostcode);
xrXmlWritter.WriteEndElement();
}
xrXmlWritter.WriteEndElement();
//End Address Element
//Title Element
if (tnTitle != "")
{
xrXmlWritter.WriteStartElement("div");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("class", "title");
xrXmlWritter.WriteString(tnTitle);
xrXmlWritter.WriteEndElement();
}
// OrgElement
if (cncompanyName != "" | dnDepartmentName != "") {
xrXmlWritter.WriteStartElement("div");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("class", "org");
if (cncompanyName != "")
{
xrXmlWritter.WriteStartElement("span");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("class", "organization-name");
xrXmlWritter.WriteString(cncompanyName);
xrXmlWritter.WriteEndElement();
}
if (dnDepartmentName != "")
{
xrXmlWritter.WriteStartElement("span");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("class", "organization-unit");
xrXmlWritter.WriteString(dnDepartmentName);
xrXmlWritter.WriteEndElement();
}
xrXmlWritter.WriteEndElement();
}
if (noNote != "") {
xrXmlWritter.WriteStartElement("div");
xrXmlWritter.WriteAttributeString("class", "note");
xrXmlWritter.WriteString(noNote);
xrXmlWritter.WriteEndElement();
}
// Div vcard End element
xrXmlWritter.WriteEndElement();
xrXmlWritter.WriteEndDocument();
// Load and Return a XML Document
hcHcardDocuemnt.LoadXml(xsXmlString.ToString());
return hcHcardDocuemnt;

}

[WebMethod]
public XmlDocument GethCard(string snSamaccountname)
{
XmlDocument xrXmldocresult;
try
{
SearchResult srSearchResult = this.GetADAccount(snSamaccountname);
if (srSearchResult != null) { xrXmldocresult = this.CreatehCard(srSearchResult); }
else
{
xrXmldocresult = new XmlDocument();
XmlElement xeFirstDivElement = xrXmldocresult.CreateElement("div");
xeFirstDivElement.InnerText = "Active Directory Account not Found";
xrXmldocresult.AppendChild(xeFirstDivElement);
}
}
catch(Exception e) {
xrXmldocresult = new XmlDocument();
XmlElement xeFirstDivElement = xrXmldocresult.CreateElement("ErrorOccured");
xeFirstDivElement.InnerText = e.Message.ToString();
xrXmldocresult.AppendChild(xeFirstDivElement);
XmlElement xeFirstDivElement1 = xrXmldocresult.CreateElement("ErrorLineNumber");
xeFirstDivElement1.InnerText = e.Source.ToString();
xrXmldocresult.AppendChild(xeFirstDivElement1);
}
return xrXmldocresult;
;

}

}

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All sample scripts and source code is provided by for illustrative purposes only. All examples are untested in different environments and therefore, I cannot guarantee or imply reliability, serviceability, or function of these programs.

All code contained herein is provided to you "AS IS" without any warranties of any kind. The implied warranties of non-infringement, merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose are expressly disclaimed.