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Asked: 2026-05-13T14:32:43+00:00

I am reading this article on how to work with AD via C#. Half

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I am reading this article on how to work with AD via C#. Half way through the article, the below code is presented.

The user account properties are checkboxes. Does anyone have any idea what the below line of code will return for a checked checkbox? What if more than 1 checkbox is checked? I’d have thought a bool being returned would be more intuitive?

//Add this to the create account method

int val = (int)newUser.Properties["userAccountControl"].Value; 
 //newUser is DirectoryEntry object

Why do we do the logical or below? How does it work between an int and the second value (is that a byte?)

 newUser.Properties["userAccountControl"].Value = val | 0x80000; 
//ADS_UF_TRUSTED_FOR_DELEGATION

I know that sounds very naive…

Thanks

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    The userAccountControl property contains a two byte value in which each single bit has a significant meaning. If the bit is on, then some option is used – if it’s not on, then the option is not present.

    This is more compact and more space optimized than having a gazillion of booleans. Also, many “older” Win16 and Win32 API just simply work this way.

    The bitwise “AND” operator is used to check for the presence of such a single bit:

    if (newUser.Properties[“userAccountControl”].Value & 0x400 == 0x400)

    in this case, the 0x400 bit is set.

    In order to actually set a bit, you use the bitwise “OR” operator:

    newUser.Properties[“userAccountControl”].Value = val | 0x800

    This sets the “0x800” bit.

    It’s basic bit-wise boolean logic, really. A bit messy, indeed – but .NET has some help to make things a bit easier (check out the BitArray data type, for instance)

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