Windows Active Directory lookup information plugin

cms knowledge:
beginner level

environment:
Windows Server 2012 R2
IIS 8.5
PHP 5.5.11
Modx Revolution 2.2.14

this is what i'm wanting to do:
users click a link labled 'phonebook'
this takes them to the page that displays a search bar
they type in something (john smith or a location, etc.)
the search checks against active directory for whatever the person inputed into the search bar, then outputs the results to the content area

i have found the plugin you use to authenticate to active directory for logons. but i did not know if that is something that could be mgyvered to suit my needs?

anyone got any ideas on this one?

Some of the parts may be re-usable, for example the parts about connecting to the Active Directory installation, and the search for the given user. But you don't want a plugin, you need a snippet. I don't know anything about Active Directory, though. Does it provide a SOAP or RESTful API?

I ran across this with a Google search http://forums.devshed.com/ldap-programming-76/searching-active-directory-php-374127.html

It also appears that you should be able to use the PHP LDAP library for this, since you aren't dealing with the more proprietary extensions that ActiveDirectory uses for its user management features. http://www.php.net/manual/en/ldap.examples-basic.php [ed. note: sottwell last edited this post 9 years, 10 months ago.]