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

2.5 - Deleting entries

Deleting an entry is pretty easy, it just requires the entry’s DN. There is one important thing to understand though, if the entry has children, the operation will fail.

Simple entry deletion

We request a deletion by providing the entry’s DN, as in the following example:

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

        try 
        {
            connection.delete( "cn=child1,cn=parent,ou=system" );
        }
        catch ( LdapException le )
        {
            fail( le.getMessage() );
        }

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

Trying to delete a parent node would result in an error (NOT_ALLOWED_ON_NON_LEAF) :

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

        try 
        {
            connection.delete( "cn=parent,ou=system" );
        }
        catch ( LdapException le )
        {
            fail( le.getMessage() );
        }

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

Recursive deletion of entries

Usually, you can’t delete an entry and all of its children in one operation. However, some servers accept such requests 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" ) );


        try
        {
            connection.deleteTree( "cn=parent,ou=system" );
        }
        catch ( LdapException le )
        {
            fail( le.getMessage() );
        }

        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