These functions provide a subfunction interface to a simplified implementation of the Basic Encoding Rules of ASN.1. The version of BER these functions support is the one defined for the LDAP protocol. The encoding rules are the same as BER, except that only definite form lengths are used, and bitstrings and octet strings are always encoded in primitive form. In addition, these lightweight BER functions restrict tags and class to fit in a single octet (this means the actual tag must be less than 31). When a "tag" is specified in the descriptions below, it refers to the tag, class, and primitive or constructed bit in the first octet of the encoding. This man page describes the encoding functions in the lber library. See ber_decode(3LDAP) for details on the corresponding decoding functions.

Normally, the only functions that need be called by an application are ber_alloc(), to allocate a BER element, and ber_printf() to do the actual encoding. The other functions are provided for those applications that need more control than ber_printf() provides. In general, these functions return the length of the element encoded, or -1 if an error occurred.

The ber_alloc() function is used to allocate a new BER element.

The ber_printf() function is used to encode a BER element in much the same way that sprintf(3S) works. One important difference, though, is that some state information is kept with the ber parameter so that multiple calls can be made to ber_printf() to append things to the end of the BER element. Ber_printf() writes to ber, a pointer to a BerElement such as returned by ber_alloc(). It interprets and formats its arguments according to the format string fmt. The format string can contain the following characters:

-b

Boolean. An integer parameter should be supplied. A boolean element is output.

-i

Integer. An integer parameter should be supplied. An integer element is output.

-B

Bitstring. A char * pointer to the start of the bitstring is supplied, followed by the number of bits in the bitstring. A bitstring element is output.

-n

Null. No parameter is required. A null element is output.

-o

Octet string. A char * is supplied, followed by the length of the string pointed to. An octet string element is output.

-s

Octet string. A null-terminated string is supplied. An octet string element is output, not including the trailing NULL octet.

-t

Tag. An int specifying the tag to give the next element is provided. This works across calls.

-v

Several octet strings. A null-terminated array of char *'s is supplied. Note that a construct like '{v}' is required to get an actual SEQUENCE OF octet strings.

-{

Begin sequence. No parameter is required.

-}

End sequence. No parameter is required.

-[

Begin set. No parameter is required.

-]

End set. No parameter is required.

The ber_put_int() function writes the integer element num to the BER element ber.

The ber_put_boolean() function writes the boolean value given by bool to the BER element.

The ber_put_bitstring() function writes blen bits starting at str as a bitstring value to the given BER element. Note that blen is the length in bits of the bitstring.

The ber_put_ostring() function writes len bytes starting at str to the BER element as an octet string.

The ber_put_string() function writes the null-terminated string (minus the terminating '') to the BER element as an octet string.

The ber_put_null() function writes a NULL element to the BER element.

The ber_start_seq() function is used to start a sequence in the BER element. The ber_start_set() function works similarly. The end of the sequence or set is marked by the nearest matching call to ber_put_seq() or ber_put_set(), respectively.

The ber_first_element() function is used to return the tag and length of the first element in a set or sequence. It also returns in cookie a magic cookie parameter that should be passed to subsequent calls to ber_next_element(), which returns similar information.

      AlmostASearchRequest := SEQUENCE {
          baseObject      DistinguishedName,
          scope           ENUMERATED {
              baseObject    (0),
              singleLevel   (1),
              wholeSubtree  (2)
          },
          derefAliases    ENUMERATED {
              neverDerefaliases   (0),
              derefInSearching    (1),
              derefFindingBaseObj (2),
              alwaysDerefAliases  (3N)
          },
          sizelimit       INTEGER (0 .. 65535),
          timelimit       INTEGER (0 .. 65535),
          attrsOnly       BOOLEAN,
          attributes      SEQUENCE OF AttributeType
      }

can be achieved like so:

      int    scope, ali, size, time, attrsonly;
      char   *dn, **attrs;

      /* ... fill in values ... */
      if ( (ber = ber_alloc()) == NULLBER )
      /* error */

      if ( ber_printf( ber, "{siiiib{v}}", dn, scope, ali,
          size, time, attrsonly, attrs ) == -1 )
              /* error */
      else
              /* success */

If an error occurs during encoding, ber_alloc() returns NULL; other functions generally return -1.

See attributes(5) for a description of the following attributes:

attributes(5), ber_decode(3LDAP)

Yeong, W., Howes, T., and Hardcastle-Kille, S., "Lightweight Directory Access Protocol", OSI-DS-26, April 1992.

Information Processing - Open Systems Interconnection - Model and Notation - Service Definition - Specification of Basic Encoding Rules for Abstract Syntax Notation One, International Organization for Standardization, International Standard 8825.

The return values for all of these functions are declared in the <lber.h> header file.