LEX Online Manual Content

Application Options - Object Filter

In this dialog, you can configure the filter which applies to the object list in the main window. You can set an LDAP filter for this list. This is especially useful when you use the deeptree view in the object list:

Application options: Object Filter

Object Browse Filter

This is the LDAP filter string which is used for filtering the object list. In the default configuration, LEX shows all objects in the object list panel which are returned from the server. However, you can configure here a filter which is applied to the request. So if you want for example that only group objects are shown in the list, you could display then groups in an entire subtree (a combination of setting the correct filter and configuring the appropriate object list scope).

The filter which is used for the object list has to be an LDAP filter string as described in RFC 2254. When using the object filter dialog to configure the filter, you can enter the filter string directly or you can use the LEX filter editor to construct the filter. A detailed description of this editor is given in the topic about the Filter Factory. There is also a topic in this manual with general information about LDAP filters.

A good description of LDAP filters can also be found at the LDAP Filter pages at the SelfADSI LDAP Scripting tutorial.

You can edit the filter string directly in the text box, or you have the following buttons to configure the object browse filter:

Construct: This opens the Filter Constructor dialog for the current LDAP filter string in the text box. You can build even complex filters conveniently with a GUI dialog here.

Edit: This button is only available if the current filter string is a valid LDAP filter which consists only of one single filter criterion. In this case, the button opens directly the Single Filter Editor dialog, so that you can edit the filter quickly.

Empty Filter: This button sets a filter which show all objects. Even if we don't want to be any filter applied at all, there must be an valid LDAP filter string in each request to the LDAP server. So in this case, LEX will use the LDAP filter (objectClass=*), which means that objects of all classes (= ALL objects) will be shown in the list.

Save: You can save the current filter into a text file, which can be loaded easily later on if you need it again. LEX stores the appropriate filter files in the Profile and Filter Storage Path in the subdirectory 'LDAPFilter' as text files.

Load: You can load a previously saved filter here. LEX stores the appropriate filter files in the Profile and Filter Storage Path in the subdirectory 'LDAPFilter' as text files. When you use the pull down menu of this button, LEX searches this subdirectory for files and gives you the possibility to immediately load the filters without any further dialog action. Even if you never saved an LDAP filter before, there should be some filter examples which were installed together with the application.

Pre-defined LDAP filters

You can structure your filter set into different categories by just saving the filters in different sub directories. LEX detect these sub directories with the filter files and shows them as a sub menu structure:

LDAP filters in a structured hierarchy

Default configuration: The filter string which was set in the LDAP connection profile or specified manually in the LDAP Connections dialog. Normally all objects are shown. Nevertheless a filter string has to be configured for this case also. So LEX will use the LDAP filter (objectClass=*), which means that objects of all classes (= ALL objects) will be shown in the list.

Current Filter Factory Content

In this section of the dialog, you can see the current content of the LEX Filter Factory. This is a place where LDAP filters can be stored or built easily. If you are dealing with attributes which you want to be searched for in a complex LDAP filter, or if you want to have a place where you can load a filter from disk to edit it and use it later in a directory search, the Filter Factory is the perfect place for this. You can open this dialog with the Open Filter Factory button:

Menu options: Filter Factory

So if there is a filter in the Filter Factory which you want to use as the object list filter, you can easily do that with the button Transfer To Browse Filter.