Intelligent Active Directory Integration: a Visual Programming Approach

The fundamental proposition of this thesis is that (a) existing Active Directory APIs are restrictive, that (b) a better programming approach to the integration of Active Directory exists and that (c) visual programming paradigms can be effectively applied to achieve the goal of on-time software delivery. Allowing the user to program using domain-specific visual languages creates an intuitive interface and, in addition, generates an underlying framework to perform validation with security checks on the visual elements. Such a framework stimulates rapid application development. Since the visually designed diagrams cannot be executed, code-generation is necessary. Supplementary security analyses were performed to ensure that no security vulnerabilities would be "generated" in the source-code. Generated code based on visual designs, is finally compiled into a Dynamic Link Library that can be included in existing or new applications, enabling them to use the generated Active Directory methods. This additional layer of abstraction allows the application's designer to focus on user interfacing and related tasks rather than Active Directory programming.