LDAP user attribute request returns unusual results - asp.net

Question

I'm struggling to return user details from AD using LDAP, after i have authenticated that the user exists.
I am using a simple auth method as follows:
Function AuthenticateUser(path As String, user As String, pass As String) As Boolean
Dim de As New DirectoryEntry(path, user, pass, AuthenticationTypes.Secure)
Try
Dim ds As DirectorySearcher = New DirectorySearcher(de)
Dim result As SearchResult = ds.FindOne()
If result Is Nothing Then Return False
'>>DEBUG OUTPUTS ONLY:
displayName.Text = result.GetDirectoryEntry().Properties.Item("distinguishedName").Value
displayName.Text += result.GetDirectoryEntry().Properties("name").Value
Return True
Catch
Return False
End Try
End Function
the problem is that "distinguishedName" returns "DC=our-domain,DC=co,DC=uk"
and "name" returns just "our-domain", not the name of the user that has just been auth'ed
Note: the displayName.text outputs are purely for debug purposes
I have tried various combos of requests but nothing seems to return USER details.
ETA: to the security police: this is all within a https connection, I'm not sending passwords about in plain text!

Answer 1

1. Dim de As New DirectoryEntry(path, user, pass, AuthenticationTypes.Secure)
2. Try
3. Dim ds As DirectorySearcher = New DirectorySearcher(de)
4. Dim result As SearchResult = ds.FindOne()
Line 1 is basically creating a DirectoryEntry element, that refers to the object at path. The only purpose that the username and password parameters serve is to authorise access to whatever entity path refers to.
As you currently have things, you're binding to the domain, not to the user (but you're authorised to connect to the domain as that user).
You then, in line 3, create a DirectorySearcher. But the constructor you're using just says to root the search at de (which as we've established, is just the domain). You've not done anything yet to search for that particular user within the domain - they could be connecting to perform almost any kind of search imaginable.
What you might want to do is look at the overload of DirectorySearcher that accepts a filter parameter - and provide a filter parameter that restricts the search to just the user. I don't know what form your user parameter is in - if it is, say, in the form of a user principal name (user#domain), you might try specifying a filter of:
Dim ds As DirectorySearcher = New DirectorySearcher(de,"(userPrincipalName=" + user + ")")
If you have just a username, you'd want to search against sAMAccountName. If you have an older style domain name (domain\user), then usually you want to split that on \, discard the domain name, and still search on sAMAccountName.
Some (but not too much!) help on constructing the filter parameters is found in the Filter property documentation.