NAME
    Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder - Build LDAP filter statements

VERSION
    This document refers to version 1.0004 of Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder

PURPOSE
    Use this module to construct LDAP filter statments which are compliant
    with the RFC 4515 syntax and also safely escape special characters.
    Filter statements can be built incrementally using simple logic
    operations.

SYNOPSIS
     use Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder;

     my $filter1 = Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder->new( sn => 'Jones' );
     # now $filter1 eq '(sn=Jones)'

    Basic logic operations such as "and", "or" and "not":

     $filter1->and( givenName => 'David' );
     # (&(sn=Jones)(givenName=David))
     
 my $filter2 = Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder->new( sn => [ 'Jones', 'Edwards', 'Lewis' ] );
     # (|(sn=Jones)(sn=Edwards)(sn=Lewis))
     
 my $filter3 = Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder->new( givenName => 'David' )->not;
     # (!(givenName=David))

    Build up filters incrementally from other FilterBuidler objects:

     my $filter4 = Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder->new( sn => ['Jones', 'Edwards'] )->and( $filter3 );
     # (&(|(sn=Jones)(sn=Edwards))(!(givenName=David)))

    Special characters to LDAP will be escaped:

     my $filter5 = Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder->new( sn => 'foo*bar' );
     # (sn=foo\*bar)

    To disable escaping, pass a Scalar reference:

     my $filter6 = Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder->new( sn => \'foo*bar' );
     # (sn=foo*bar)

    Alternate operators are available through the three-argument constructor
    form:

     my $filter7 = Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder->new( '>=', dateOfBirth => '19700101000000Z' );
     # (dateOfBirth>=19700101000000Z)

DESCRIPTION
    This is a convenience module which greatly simplifies the construction
    of LDAP query filter statments, which are described in RFC 4515 and also
    the Net::LDAP::Filter manual page.

USAGE
    To make any filter, call the constructor "new" with the attribute and
    value to match:

     my $filter = Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder->new( sn => 'Jones' );

    The value returned is an object, but stringifies to the current query:

     print "success" if $filter eq '(sn=Jones)';
     # prints "success"

    However you can refine the filter statement using three additional
    methods for the logical operations "and", "or" and "not", as shown in
    the "SYOPSIS" section, above, and the "METHODS" section below.

    There are two ways to refine a filter. Either call the logic method with
    a new attribute and value, or call a logic method and pass another
    Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder object. These two practices are also shown in
    the "SYNOPSIS" section, above.

  Comparison Operators
    By default the module uses an equal operator between the attribute and
    value. To select an alternate operator, use the three agurment form of
    the constructor:

     my $filter = Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder->new( '>=', dateOfBirth => '19700101000000Z' );
     # (dateOfBirth>=19700101000000Z)

    Note that this module is not aware of the list of valid operators, it
    simply takes the first argument to be the operator, whatever it might
    be.

  Special Character Escaping
    If you happen to include one of the small set of characters which are of
    special significance to LDAP filter statments in your value argument,
    then those characters will be escaped. The list of characters is:

     ( ) * \ NUL

    To avoid this pass in a scalar reference as the value argument. For
    example to enable a wildcard (substring) match on a value:

     my $filter = Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder->new( sn => \'foo*bar' );
     # (sn=foo*bar)

METHODS
    as_str
        Returns the string representation of the LDAP filter. Note that the
        object will stringify to this value in string context, too.

    and(FILTERSPEC)
        Logically conjoins this filter with the one specified by FILTERSPEC.
        FILTERSPEC may be a Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder object, or a hash
        representation of the filter as taken by new.

        Returns the newly-conjoined Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder.

    or(FILTERSPEC)
        Logically disjoins this filter with the one specified by FILTERSPEC.
        FILTERSPEC may be a Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder object, or a hash
        representation of the filter as taken by new.

        Returns the newly-disjoined Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder.

    not Logically complements this filter.

        Returns the newly-negated Net::LDAP::FilterBuilder.

AUTHOR
    Originally written by Ray Miller.

MAINTAINER
    Oliver Gorwits "<oliver.gorwits@oucs.ox.ac.uk>"

COPYRIGHT & LICENSE
    Copyright (c) The University of Oxford 2008.

    This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
    under the same terms as Perl itself.

