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Understanding Matching Rule Plug-Ins
When the server starts up and loads the matching rule plug-in, it calls the
initialization function. In this function, you pass the server the pointers to the
factory functions and the close function. The server calls these functions when
needed (see "How Matching Rules Are Identified" on page 126 and "How the
Server Associates Plug-Ins with OIDs" on page 127 for details).
How Matching Rules Are Identified
Matching rules are identified by OID. When the server encounters an OID in the
following situations, it attempts to find the matching rule plug-in that handles the
matching rule with that OID.
The server can encounter a matching rule OID in the following situations:
•
When reading in the server configuration file, the server may encounter an
index directive that specifies the OID of the matching rule. For example:
index <attribute_name> <filter_type> <matching_rule_oid>
If the OID is associated with a matching rule plug-in, the server adds this OID
to the list of matching rule OIDs to use for indexing.
For information on setting up the server to index based on matching rule, see
"Indexing Based on Matching Rules" on page 129.
•
The server may receive an LDAP search request with an "extensible match"
filter specifying the OID of the matching rule. For example, a string
representation of an "extensible match" filter might be:
(sn:dn:1.2.3.4:=Jensen)
(The search filter above specifies that the server should use the matching rule
identified by the OID 1.2.3.4 to search for the value
and in all attributes in the DN.)
For information on setting up the server to handle extensible match filters, see
"Handling Extensible Match Filters" on page 134.
•
The server may receive an LDAP search request containing a sorting control,
and the sorting control specifies the OID of the matching rule.
For information on setting up the server to sort based on matching rules, see
"Handling Sorting by Matching Rules" on page 142.
In all of these situations, the server uses the matching rule OID to find the plug-in
responsible for handling the rule (see "How the Server Associates Plug-Ins with
OIDs" on page 127 for details).
126
Netscape Directory Server Plug-In Programmer's Guide • May 2002
in the
attribute
Jensen
sn
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