RFC 2891 (rfc2891) - Page 2 of 8

LDAP Control Extension for Server Side Sorting of Search Results

RFC 2891     LDAP Control Extension for Server Side Sorting  August 2000


1.  The Controls

1.1 Request Control

   This control is included in the searchRequest message as part of the
   controls field of the LDAPMessage, as defined in Section 4.1.12 of
   [LDAPv3].

   The controlType is set to "1.2.840.113556.1.4.473". The criticality
   MAY be either TRUE or FALSE (where absent is also equivalent to
   FALSE) at the client's option. The controlValue is an OCTET STRING,
   whose value is the BER encoding of a value of the following SEQUENCE:

      SortKeyList ::= SEQUENCE OF SEQUENCE {
                 attributeType   AttributeDescription,
                 orderingRule    [0] MatchingRuleId OPTIONAL,
                 reverseOrder    [1] BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE }

   The SortKeyList sequence is in order of highest to lowest sort key
   precedence.

   The MatchingRuleId, as defined in section 4.1.9 of [LDAPv3], SHOULD
   be one that is valid for the attribute type it applies to.  If it is
   not, the server will return inappropriateMatching.

   Each attributeType should only occur in the SortKeyList once. If an
   attributeType is included in the sort key list multiple times, the
   server should return an error in the sortResult of
   unwillingToPerform.

   If the orderingRule is omitted, the ordering MatchingRule defined for
   use with this attribute MUST be used.

   Any conformant implementation of this control MUST allow a sort key
   list with at least one key.

1.2 Response Control

   This control is included in the searchResultDone message as part of
   the controls field of the LDAPMessage, as defined in Section  4.1.12
   of [LDAPv3].

   The controlType is set to "1.2.840.113556.1.4.474". The criticality
   is FALSE (MAY be absent). The controlValue is an OCTET STRING, whose
   value is the BER encoding of a value of the following SEQUENCE:






Howes, et al.               Standards Track