Active Directory in .NET: Getting started (A better version - Using the AccountManagement namespace)

A few days ago I blogged on Active Directory in .NET: Getting Started.

In that post I stated that everything you need to query the Active Directory in .NET lives in the System.DirectoryServices, well that was a lie. .NET Framework 3.5 introduced the System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement namespace.

I learned about this namespace today, and wow, it really is much better. I have rewritten our own Active Directory wrapper in less then a few hours.

All you need to know in general is that everything you do using the AccountManagement namespace needs to run under a PrincipalContext.



Let me show you two basic methods..

I commented out the original method which uses the DirectoryServices namespace. Can you see the difference?

Authenticate a user



Get the DisplayName of a user



The code hardly needs any explanation. Hope it helps!