h2. Preparation to code

In order to develop with the *Apache Directory LDAP API*, you first have to use a *Java 5* or *Java 6* JDK. 

Second, you have to download the *[API|http://directory.apache.org/api/downloads.html]*. This package contains not only the *LDAP API*, but also all the needed jars (like _commons-lang_, _slf4j_...).

If you are using *Maven*, you don't even have to refer to all the libraries that are found in the package, since they will be deduced automatically. You will just have to add a dependency on shared-all.jar :

{code:xml}
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.apache.directory.shared</groupId>
      <artifactId>shared-all</artifactId>
    </dependency>
{code}

This is it, you should be ready to code!