Most aspects of the way an LDAP server, and LDAP Administrator respectively, actually behave, are controlled by the server schema. LDAP Administrator now provides the Schema Viewer tool for you to find and view LDAP server schema components. Every time you need to know which attributes of, say, the inetOrgPerson object class are required and which are optional, or what the syntax of an attribute like telephoneNumber really is - Schema Viewer is what will definitely be of assistance. It may prove especially useful when you are involved in the development of your own schema, or when you just intend to gain the advanced knowledge of LDAP.
To run Schema Viewer for the LDAP schema currently in use, do one of the following:
Click
Schema Viewer on the Schema toolbar.
In the Schema menu select
Schema Viewer.
To run Schema Viewer for the currently selected object class or attribute type, do one of the following:
Click
Find in Schema on the Schema toolbar.
In the Schema menu select
Find in Schema.
In the attribute type or object class context menu select
Find in Schema.
To run Schema Viewer for the default LDAP schema, do one of the following:
Click
View Default Schema on the Schema toolbar.
In the Schema menu select
View Default Schema.
Browsing SchemaThe left-hand side panel of the Schema Viewer dialog features a set of tabs each representing a part of schema, like attribute types or object classes. Click on a tab to get a complete list of elements which belong to the selected schema part. Then choose your target element to display its details in the view on the right.
Some schema entities may have links to one another. For example, an attribute type can possess a superior attribute type and a syntax that points to an LDAP syntax entity. Schema Viewer offers a cross link navigation between linked schema entities, just like a web browser allows surfing web pages by clicking links. All these links are properly highlighted, underlined and your mouse cursor will change to a 
hand - again just like in a browser. To get to a linked schema entity, all you need is to click the underlined item.
When navigating between schema parts and elements, Schema Viewer populates the navigation history list for you to be able to easily move back and forward from one element already seen to another. Use the 
Back and 
Forward commands from the Schema Viewer toolbar to review elements from history.
Searching For Schema Element(s)Chances are that your schema may contain hundreds or even thousands of elements. In this case finding a particular element can become a complex and time-consuming task, so here it's recommended you make use of Schema Search. It allows finding an element or a group of elements by a keyword or phrase contained in their attributes.
To perform a search:
Select a schema entity you'd like to search inside.
In the Search box, enter a keyword or phrase in the Search text field, or click the arrow on the Search box to specify search text previously used. You may want to search not only for a particular word, but also for a phrase or a word part. Sometimes you may face the need to search for an element knowing just a part of it. This can be accomplished with the help of the '*' and '?' wildcards serving as replacements for the unknown part - '?' for a single characters and '*' for multiple characters. For example: *photo, jpeg*, jpegphot?.
Click Find Now on the Schema Viewer toolbar to start searching.
If at least one item has been found, then the search result tab will display all the items matching the search criteria specified. As soon as the search result becomes redundant, press Clear on the Schema Viewer toolbar to hide the search result tab.
Using the List View pane of LDAP Administrator, you can select an attribute or object class to display details on, and then click |
Reloading SchemaFor best performance LDAP Administrator caches schema for each server it has to work with. Every time it connects to a server, it checks whether the schema cache is up to date by verifying the modifyTimestamp attribute. If it is, the cache will be eligible for use, otherwise the schema entry will be reloaded.
However, some LDAP servers do not maintain the modifyTimestamp attribute for schema entry. In this case LDAP Administrator assumes that the schema cache expiration period is 30 days and will thus reload the schema every 30 days. But note that this approach makes no sense when the server schema is changed frequently, meaning that at times you'll need to reload the schema manually so the application detects the changes made in it.
To revoke the current schema and start fetching another one, press the 
Reload current schema button on the Schema Viewer toolbar, or use the Reload Schema command on the LDAP Administrator Schema toolbar or from the application's Schema menu.
Customizing Schema ViewerTo adjust the size of the Schema Viewer window, click your mouse against the right-hand bottom corner of the window and, with the mouse button pressed, resize it to your liking.
To resize the left and right-hand side panels of the Viewer, move your mouse over the separator between them for the cursor to change. As soon as it does, press and keep the mouse button to resize.
By default, schema items are displayed by name. In case it is necessary to see their OIDs rather than names, you can switch Schema Viewer to another display mode by clicking the 
Display items by OID rather than by name command from the Schema Viewer toolbar.
To customize or re-order the navigation pane buttons displayed, click the More Buttons button at the bottom of the left-hand side panel and select Navigation Pane Options.