Here’s an extremely simple application that will query Active Directory for a user’s full name when given their username.
Compiled program download link: http://cjwdev.co.uk/…/GetRealNameFromAD/GetRealNameFromAD.zip
and here is the source code for the main function if anyone is interested:
''' <summary>
''' Finds a user's combined first name and surname from Active Directory given their username
''' </summary>
''' <param name="UsernameToFind">The username (sAMAccountName) to search for</param>
Private Function GetRealNameFromAd(ByVal UsernameToFind As String) As String
Using searcher As New DirectorySearcher(New DirectoryEntry())
searcher.PageSize = 1000
searcher.SearchScope = SearchScope.Subtree
searcher.Filter = "(&(samAccountType=805306368)(sAMAccountName=" & UsernameToFind & "))"
Using Results As SearchResultCollection = searcher.FindAll
If Results Is Nothing OrElse Results.Count <> 1 Then
Throw New ApplicationException("Invalid number of results returned – either no users were found or more than one user account was found")
End If
Using UserDE As DirectoryEntry = Results(0).GetDirectoryEntry
Return CStr(UserDE.Properties("givenName").Value) & " " & CStr(UserDE.Properties("sn").Value)
End Using
End Using
End Using
End Function
''' Finds a user's combined first name and surname from Active Directory given their username
''' </summary>
''' <param name="UsernameToFind">The username (sAMAccountName) to search for</param>
Private Function GetRealNameFromAd(ByVal UsernameToFind As String) As String
Using searcher As New DirectorySearcher(New DirectoryEntry())
searcher.PageSize = 1000
searcher.SearchScope = SearchScope.Subtree
searcher.Filter = "(&(samAccountType=805306368)(sAMAccountName=" & UsernameToFind & "))"
Using Results As SearchResultCollection = searcher.FindAll
If Results Is Nothing OrElse Results.Count <> 1 Then
Throw New ApplicationException("Invalid number of results returned – either no users were found or more than one user account was found")
End If
Using UserDE As DirectoryEntry = Results(0).GetDirectoryEntry
Return CStr(UserDE.Properties("givenName").Value) & " " & CStr(UserDE.Properties("sn").Value)
End Using
End Using
End Using
End Function
Cjwdev 
Hey Chris!
I’m using this code in a project I’m working on at the moment, but had a question for you as you seem to be pretty competent with the Active Directory stuff.
How can I get the “alias” of the currently logged in user from Active Directory/LDAP?
Like at work, my login is h318129. Using the above code you posted, it retrieves my full name. How can I retrieve my email or alias (which is the first part of the email) from that login? The alias in my case is uss30. Email is uss30@domain.com
Thanks!
As far as I know there is no such thing as an ‘alias’ in AD so the only thing I can help you with is getting the email address. All you need to do to get the email address is just replace this line in the above code:
Return CStr(UserDE.Properties(“givenName”).Value) & ” ” & CStr(UserDE.Properties(“sn”).Value)
with this:
Return CStr(UserDE.Properties(“mail”).Value)
Does that give you what you wanted?
Cheers
Chris
Very, very nicely done Chris. I’m working on some code to return the locked/not locked status of a specified user account. Please post a follow-up if can provide some direction on that.
This is how I get the locked out status in my AD reporting tool, sorry but you’ll have to figure out what the variables and functions actually are as I haven’t got time to make it all generic and provide the whole thing as a stand alone function for you:
If AdObject.Properties.Contains(“lockoutTime”) Then
If CLng(AdObject.Properties(“lockoutTime”)(0)) = 0 Then
Return False
End If
If _LockoutDuration = Nothing Then
Try
Dim RawValue = DirectCast(_DomainToSearchDirectoryEntry.Properties(“lockoutDuration”).Value, ActiveDirectoryHelper.IADsLargeInteger)
Dim Ticks As Int64 = ActiveDirectoryHelper.GetTicksFromIADSLargeInteger(RawValue)
Dim TempLockoutDuration As TimeSpan = TimeSpan.FromTicks(Ticks)
If TempLockoutDuration = TimeSpan.MinValue Then
_LockoutDuration = TempLockoutDuration
Else
_LockoutDuration = TimeSpan.FromTicks(-Ticks)
End If
Catch ex As Exception
Throw New ApplicationException(“Unable to get lockout duration from domain security policy due to the following error: ” & ex.Message)
End Try
End If
If _LockoutDuration = TimeSpan.MinValue Then
Return True
Else
Dim TimeLocked As Date = ActiveDirectoryHelper.GetDateFromADInterval(AdObject, “lockoutTime”)
Return TimeLocked.Add(_LockoutDuration) > Now
End If
Else
Return False
End If