An LDAP entry contains different attribute types with different syntaxes: objectClasses, names, passwords, images, etc. To handle the different data types Value Editors are used. Value Editors know how to edit a value .
The default Value Editor for an attibute is determined using the following procedure:
If a Value Editor for the attribute type is specified, this one is used.
If a Value Editor for the attribute's syntax is specified, this one is used.
If the attribute is binary according to its syntax, the Binary Editor is used.
If the attribute is string according to its syntax, the Text Editor is used.
The default Value Editor could be specified by attribute type or syntax in the Value Editors preferences
Another task of a Value Editor is to provide the displayed value for the Entry editor and Search Result editor. Especially binary data can't be displayed "as-is".