This package defines the directory operations of the Java Naming and Directory Interface™ (JNDI). JNDI provides naming and directory functionality to applications written in the Java programming language. It is designed to be independent of any specific naming or directory service implementation. Thus a variety of services--new, emerging, and already deployed ones--can be accessed in a common way.
This package allows applications to retrieve and update attributes associated with objects stored in a directory, and to search for objects using specified attributes.
You use getAttributes() to retrieve the attributes associated with a directory object (for which you supply the name). Attributes are modified using modifyAttributes(). You can add, replace, or remove attributes and/or attribute values using this operation.
DirContext also behaves as a naming context by extending the Context interface in the javax.naming package. This means that any directory object can also provide a naming context. For example, the directory object for a person might contain the attributes of that person, and at the same time provide a context for naming objects relative to that person such as his printers and home directory.