Spring ldaptemplate unable to delete attribute with multiple values

Question

I want to delete attribute with multiple values but it ignores this while successfully deletes another attribute with specific value in directory.

Attribute attr1 = new BasicAttribute("fooAttr");
ModificationItem attr1mod = new 
ModificationItem(DirContext.REMOVE_ATTRIBUTE,attr1);
Attribute attr2 = new BasicAttribute("barAttr","my value");
ModificationItem attr2mod = new 
ModificationItem(DirContext.REMOVE_ATTRIBUTE,attr2);
try{ 
    ldapTemplate.modifyAttributes("cn=myname,dc=example,dc=com", new 
    ModificationItem[]{attr1mod, attr2mod});
    } catch(Exception e) {
    // 
}

barAttr is deleted with the specified value but multivalued fooAttr is not deleted.

barAttr is also multivalued and the specified value is deleted. I also tried to delete a specified value of fooAttr and still it failed to delete the specified value of fooAttr. I confirmed externally that fooAttr exists in the directory.

ldapTemplate.modifyAttributes executes successfully, does not throw exception.

If I do this:

ldapTemplate.modifyAttributes("cn=myname,dc=example,dc=com", new 
    ModificationItem[]{attr1mod});

then in this case exception is thrown:

LDAP: error code 16 - Failed to modify the underlying source: No such attribute

UPDATE I also tried this approach:

DirContextOperation context = ldaptemplate.lookup(dn);
String [] fooAttrValues = context.getStringAttributes("fooAttr");

for(String value : fooattrValues) {
  context.removeAttributeValue("fooAttr", value);
}
String [] fooAttrValues2 = context.getStringAttributes("fooAttr");

This does not work, after program is run the director still has the same attribute and all the values. I debugged through it, it does get the correct values but does not remove any value, even fooAttrValues2 still has all the values.

How can I fix this problem?

Freeman · Accepted Answer · 2023-08-16 07:32:44Z

2

+250

I think to delete specific attribute values, you better to use the DirContext.REMOVE_ATTRIBUTE flag for each value individually, right now, you are using DirContext.REMOVE_ATTRIBUTE flag for both attributes attr1 and attr2 in your code and it used to remove the entire attribute, not specific attribute values!

something like this:

Attribute attr1 = new BasicAttribute("fooAttr", "value1"); 
ModificationItem attr1mod = new ModificationItem(DirContext.REMOVE_ATTRIBUTE, attr1);

Attribute attr2 = new BasicAttribute("barAttr", "my value"); 
ModificationItem attr2mod = new ModificationItem(DirContext.REMOVE_ATTRIBUTE, attr2);

try {
    ldapTemplate.modifyAttributes("cn=myname,dc=example,dc=com", new ModificationItem[]{attr1mod, attr2mod});
} catch (Exception e) {
    //here handle your exceptions
}

Update
and also, instead of using the REMOVE_ATTRIBUTE,you can try using the REPLACE_ATTRIBUTE with the modified list of values for fooAttr.it involves retrieving the existing attribute values, removing the specific value you want to delete, and then using REPLACE_ATTRIBUTE to update fooAttr with the modified list!

ModificationItem attr1mod = new ModificationItem(DirContext.REMOVE_ATTRIBUTE, new BasicAttribute("fooAttr"));

//removing a specific value of the multi-valued attribute
ModificationItem attr2mod = new ModificationItem(DirContext.REMOVE_ATTRIBUTE | DirContext.REPLACE_ATTRIBUTE, new BasicAttribute("barAttr", "my value"));

ldapTemplate.modifyAttributes("cn=myname,dc=example,dc=com", new ModificationItem[]{attr1mod, attr2mod});

edited Aug 16, 2023 at 7:32

answered Aug 15, 2023 at 10:18

Freeman

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5 Comments

ace Over a year ago

Freeman, thanks but as mentioned in the post ; "I also tried to delete a specified value of fooAttr and still it failed to delete the specified value of fooAttr. I confirmed externally that fooAttr exists in the directory." whic is exactly what your code is doing bu fails to delete even specific value of fooAttr.

Freeman Over a year ago

so try using a different LDAP client, such as Apache Directory Studio, to perform the same modification and see if you encounter the same issue. and check my answer again plz.

ace Over a year ago

ldaptemplate.getattributes does not exist. I tried similar approach but does not work either.

Freeman Over a year ago

@ace oh, yes, I apologize. It was a piece of another project that I copied and pasted that night, and it was a mistake. I have updated the code again. Could you please check if the problem is resolved with the new code? thnx

ace Over a year ago

your code is very similar to my code in the post. So still same issue.

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