Apple AppleShare 3.0 Users and Groups Programming Interface - Manual

USERS AND GROUPS PROGRAMMING INTERFACE
UGLibrary is a set of functions that lets you implement users and groups
capabilities for your shared applications in a consistent way. Thus, you can
take advantage of existing system-software users and groups components to
authenticate users of your shared applications.
Additionally, your applications can use UGLibrary to manipulate the Users &
Groups Data File for the AppleShare Server 3.0, or for any Macintosh that is
using Macintosh File Sharing. These functions provide a simple programming
interface that allows your applications to add and delete users and groups,
and to set information on users, groups, the AppleShare File Server 3.0, or
Macintosh File Sharing. (Throughout the rest of this document, the term file
server is used to refer to both the AppleShare File Server 3.0 and Macintosh
File Sharing.)
Here are some examples of how UGLibrary can help you make use of users and
groups files from within your applications:
- The UGAuthenticateUser function can let server applications other than the
file server use the users and groups file to authenticate the applications'
remote users. (The password must be a Pascal string containing the Cleartext
value of the password. the application must use the appropriate encryption
methods if the password will be sent over the network.)
- A database application can use the UGGetUserInfo function to see if a
remote user is a member of a specific group before allowing the user access
to files.
- Classroom software can generate users and groups files for file servers,
using its student and class database.
- An application, running on a server Macintosh, that is communicating with a
remote application can be used to maintain the users and groups files
remotely. Apple events or the PPC Toolbox can be used for authenticated
communications between the applications.
The users and groups file
A users and groups file contains records that define file server
characteristics, the list of users, the list of groups, the mapping of users
into groups, and other information about users. Users and groups files can be
opened and closed. When a users and groups file is opened, a file reference
number is assigned to the access path and a program access ID is assigned to
the application that opened the file. The file reference number and program
access ID are passed to all UGLibrary functions that manipulate the open
users and groups file.
When your program creates a users and groups file, the file's server version
number is Sys7SrvrVer. (This is the value that the UGGetULInfo function
returns in the ugSrvrVersion field.) This version number indicates that the
file can be used only by Macintosh File Sharing. If the file is to be used
with the AppleShare File Server 3.0, the ugSrvrVersion field must be set to
AS3SrvrVer by means of the UGSetULInfo function.
The following UGLibrary functions are relevant to users and groups files and
are described in detail later in this document: