2.4 - Adding entries
2 - Basic LDAP API usage
2.6 - Modifying entries

2.5 - Deleting entries

Deleting an entry is really easy. It's just a matter to know its Dn. There is one important thing to understand though : if this entry has some children, it won't be deleted.

Simple entry deletion

We can ask the deletion by providing the entry's Dn, like what is done in the following example :

@Test
public void testDeleteLeafNode() throws Exception
{
    assertTrue( session.exists( "cn=child1,cn=parent,ou=system" ) );

    DeleteResponse response = connection.delete( "cn=child1,cn=parent,ou=system" );
    assertNotNull( response );
    assertEquals( ResultCodeEnum.SUCCESS, response.getLdapResult().getResultCode() );

    assertFalse( session.exists( "cn=child1,cn=parent,ou=system" ) );
}

Trying to delete the parent alone would leads to an error (NOT_ALLOWED_ON_NON_LEAF) :

@Test
public void testDeleteNonLeafFailure() throws Exception
{
    assertTrue( session.exists( "cn=parent,ou=system" ) );

    DeleteResponse response = connection.delete( "cn=parent,ou=system" );
    assertNotNull( response );
    assertEquals( ResultCodeEnum.NOT_ALLOWED_ON_NON_LEAF, response.getLdapResult().getResultCode() );

    assertTrue( session.exists( "cn=parent,ou=system" ) );
}

Recursive deletion of entries

Usually, you can't delete an entry and all of its children. However, some server accept such a request if you send a delete request and a TreeDelete control. This control is a draft, which has been implemented by Microsoft, OpenDS, OpenDJ. It will delete all the children and the entry itself. We don't use a normal delete() method, there is a specific method, deleteTree(). Here is an example :

@Test
public void testDeleteWithCascadeControl() throws Exception
{
    assertTrue( session.exists( "cn=parent,ou=system" ) );

    DeleteResponse response = connection.deleteTree( "cn=parent,ou=system" );
    assertNotNull( response );
    assertEquals( ResultCodeEnum.SUCCESS, response.getLdapResult().getResultCode() );

    assertFalse( session.exists( "cn=parent,ou=system" ) );
}

Sending a DeleteRequest with a control

It's also possible to associate a [Control] with the delete request. In order to do that, you have to create a DelRequest instance. In the following example, we will add the Delete Tree control (this make this call equivalent to the deleteTree() method).

@Test
public void testDeleteWithControl() throws Exception
{
    assertTrue( session.exists( "cn=parent,ou=system" ) );

    if ( connection.isControlSupported( "1.2.840.113556.1.4.805" ) )
    {
        DeleteRequest deleteRequest = new DeleteRequestImpl();
        deleteRequest.setName( new Dn( "cn=parent,ou=system" ) );
        Control deleteTreeControl = new OpaqueControl( "1.2.840.113556.1.4.805" );
        deleteRequest.addControl( deleteTreeControl );

        DeleteResponse deleteResponse = connection.delete( deleteRequest );

        assertNotNull( deleteResponse );
        assertEquals( ResultCodeEnum.SUCCESS, deleteResponse.getLdapResult().getResultCode() );
        assertFalse( session.exists( "cn=parent,ou=system" ) );
    }
}

Asynchronous delete

You can also decide to send an asynchronous delete request : the method will return a Future that you can check later. You have to construct a [DeleteRequest] instance. Here is an example :

@Test
public void testDeleteAsync() throws Exception
{
    assertTrue( session.exists( "cn=child,cn=parent,ou=system" ) );

    DeleteRequest deleteRequest = new DeleteRequestImpl();
    deleteRequest.setName( new Dn( "cn=child,cn=parent,ou=system" ) );

    DeleteFuture deleteFuture = connection.deleteAsync( deleteRequest );

    DeleteResponse deleteResponse = deleteFuture.get( 1000, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS );

    assertNotNull( deleteResponse );
    assertEquals( ResultCodeEnum.SUCCESS, deleteResponse.getLdapResult().getResultCode() );
    assertFalse( session.exists( "cn=child,cn=parent,ou=system" ) );
}
2.4 - Adding entries
2 - Basic LDAP API usage
2.6 - Modifying entries