PrincipalSearcher Class

using

System.Collections.Generic;
using System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement;
using System.Linq;

namespace MSDN.Example
{
publicclassAccountManagement
{
///<summary>
/// Searches the local domain for all group principals
///</summary>
///<returns>A list of group principals if successful; otherwise null</returns>
///<remarks>This method uses objects that are new in version 3 of the .Net Framework</remarks>
publicList<GroupPrincipal> GetAllGroups()
{
List<GroupPrincipal> retVal = null;

//Create a context for the search take place in
using (PrincipalContext context = newPrincipalContext(ContextType.Domain))
{
//Create a group principal filter with the context
using (GroupPrincipal filter = newGroupPrincipal(context))
{
//Create a principal search using the filter
using (PrincipalSearcher searcher = newPrincipalSearcher(filter))
{
//Execute a search with the searcher using the filter against the context of the local domain.
//searcher.FindAll is called in a LINQ expression to provide the collection of GroupPrincipals.
//The LINQ expression wrapped in parents to define scope and followed by a call to ToList which
//will convert the IEnumerable returned by the LINQ expression into a generic List<GroupPrincipal>
retVal = (from principal in searcher.FindAll() select principal asGroupPrincipal).ToList();
}
}
}
return retVal;
}
}
}