How do I create a custom membership provider for ASP.NET MVC 2?

C#asp.netasp.net MvcMembership ProviderCustom Membershipprovider

C# Problem Overview


How do I create a custom membership for ASP.NET MVC 2 based on the ASP.NET membership provider?

C# Solutions


Solution 1 - C#

I have created a new project containing a custom membership provider and overrode the ValidateUser method from the MembershipProvider abstract class:

public class MyMembershipProvider : MembershipProvider
{ 
    public override bool ValidateUser(string username, string password)
    {    
        // this is where you should validate your user credentials against your database.
        // I've made an extra class so i can send more parameters 
        // (in this case it's the CurrentTerritoryID parameter which I used as 
        // one of the MyMembershipProvider class properties). 
         
        var oUserProvider = new MyUserProvider();  
        return oUserProvider.ValidateUser(username,password,CurrentTerritoryID);
    }
}

Then I connected that provider to my ASP.NET MVC 2 project by adding a reference and pointing it out from my web.config:

<membership defaultProvider="MyMembershipProvider">
    <providers>
        <clear />
        <add name="MyMembershipProvider"
            applicationName="MyApp"
            Description="My Membership Provider"
            passwordFormat="Clear"
            connectionStringName="MyMembershipConnection"
            type="MyApp.MyMembershipProvider" />
    </providers>
</membership>

I do need to create a custom class that inherits the RoleProvider abstract class and overrides the GetRolesForUser method. The ASP.NET MVC Authorizing uses that method to find out which roles are assigned to the current logged-on user and makes sure the user is permitted to access the controller action.

Here are the steps we need to take:

  1. Create a custom class that inherits the RoleProvider abstract class and overrides the GetRolesForUser method:

    public override string[] GetRolesForUser(string username) { SpHelper db = new SpHelper(); DataTable roleNames = null; try { // get roles for this user from DB...

         roleNames = db.ExecuteDataset(ConnectionManager.ConStr,
                     "sp_GetUserRoles",
                     new MySqlParameter("_userName", username)).Tables[0];
     }
     catch (Exception ex)
     {
         throw ex;
     }
     string[] roles = new string[roleNames.Rows.Count];
     int counter = 0;
     foreach (DataRow row in roleNames.Rows)
     {
         roles[counter] = row["Role_Name"].ToString();
         counter++;
     }
     return roles;
    

    }

  2. Connect the role provider with the ASP.NET MVC 2 application via our web.config:

    ...

    ...

  3. Set the Authorize(Roles="xxx,yyy") above the wanted Controller / Action:

    [Authorization(Roles = "Customer Manager,Content Editor")] public class MyController : Controller { ...... }

That's it! Now it works!

  1. Optional: set a custom Authorize attribute so we can redirect an unwanted role to an AccessDenied Page:

    [AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Class | AttributeTargets.Method, Inherited = true, AllowMultiple = false)] public class MyAuthorizationAttribute : AuthorizeAttribute { ///

    /// The name of the master page or view to use when rendering the view on authorization failure. Default /// is null, indicating to use the master page of the specified view. /// public virtual string MasterName { get; set; }

     /// <summary>
     /// The name of the view to render on authorization failure.  Default is "Error".
     /// </summary>
     public virtual string ViewName { get; set; }
    
     public MyAuthorizationAttribute ()
         : base()
     {
         this.ViewName = "Error";
     }
    
     protected void CacheValidateHandler(HttpContext context, object data, ref HttpValidationStatus validationStatus)
     {
         validationStatus = OnCacheAuthorization(new HttpContextWrapper(context));
     }
    
     public override void OnAuthorization(AuthorizationContext filterContext)
     {
         if (filterContext == null)
         {
             throw new ArgumentNullException("filterContext");
         }
    
         if (AuthorizeCore(filterContext.HttpContext))
         {
             SetCachePolicy(filterContext);
         }
         else if (!filterContext.HttpContext.User.Identity.IsAuthenticated)
         {
             // auth failed, redirect to login page
             filterContext.Result = new HttpUnauthorizedResult();
         }
         else if (filterContext.HttpContext.User.IsInRole("SuperUser"))
         {
             // is authenticated and is in the SuperUser role
             SetCachePolicy(filterContext);
         }
         else
         {
             ViewDataDictionary viewData = new ViewDataDictionary();
             viewData.Add("Message", "You do not have sufficient privileges for this operation.");
             filterContext.Result = new ViewResult { MasterName = this.MasterName, ViewName = this.ViewName, ViewData = viewData };
         }
     }
    
     protected void SetCachePolicy(AuthorizationContext filterContext)
     {
         // ** IMPORTANT **
         // Since we're performing authorization at the action level, the authorization code runs
         // after the output caching module. In the worst case this could allow an authorized user
         // to cause the page to be cached, then an unauthorized user would later be served the
         // cached page. We work around this by telling proxies not to cache the sensitive page,
         // then we hook our custom authorization code into the caching mechanism so that we have
         // the final say on whether a page should be served from the cache.
         HttpCachePolicyBase cachePolicy = filterContext.HttpContext.Response.Cache;
         cachePolicy.SetProxyMaxAge(new TimeSpan(0));
         cachePolicy.AddValidationCallback(CacheValidateHandler, null /* data */);
     }
    

    }

Now we can use our own made attribute to redirect our users to access denied view:

[MyAuthorization(Roles = "Portal Manager,Content Editor", ViewName = "AccessDenied")]
public class DropboxController : Controller
{ 
    .......
}

That's it! Super duper!

Here are some of the links I've used to get all this info:

Custom role provider: http://davidhayden.com/blog/dave/archive/2007/10/17/CreateCustomRoleProviderASPNETRolePermissionsSecurity.aspx

I hope this info helps!

Solution 2 - C#

Solution 3 - C#

Its also possible to use this with a much smaller amount of code, i'm not entirely sure if this method is as safe but works very well with any database you use.

in the global.asax

protected void Application_AuthenticateRequest(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        if (HttpContext.Current.User != null)
        {
            if (HttpContext.Current.User.Identity.IsAuthenticated)
            {
                if (HttpContext.Current.User.Identity is FormsIdentity)
                {
                    FormsIdentity id =
                        (FormsIdentity)HttpContext.Current.User.Identity;
                    FormsAuthenticationTicket ticket = id.Ticket;

                    // Get the stored user-data, in this case, our roles
                    string userData = ticket.UserData;
                    string[] roles = userData.Split(',');
                    HttpContext.Current.User = new GenericPrincipal(id, roles);
                }
            }
        }
    }

what this does is that it reads the roles from the authCookie which was made from FormsAuthenticationTicket

and the logon logic looks like this

public class dbService
{
    private databaseDataContext db = new databaseDataContext();

    public IQueryable<vwPostsInfo> AllPostsAndDetails()
    {
        return db.vwPostsInfos;
    }

    public IQueryable<role> GetUserRoles(int userID)
    {
        return (from r in db.roles
                    join ur in db.UsersRoles on r.rolesID equals ur.rolesID
                    where ur.userID == userID
                    select r);
    }

    public IEnumerable<user> GetUserId(string userName)
    {
        return db.users.Where(u => u.username.ToLower() == userName.ToLower());
    }

    public bool logOn(string username, string password)
    {
        try
        {
            var userID = GetUserId(username);
            var rolesIQueryable = GetUserRoles(Convert.ToInt32(userID.Select(x => x.userID).Single()));
            string roles = "";
            foreach (var role in rolesIQueryable)
            {
                roles += role.rolesName + ",";
            }

            roles.Substring(0, roles.Length - 2);
            FormsAuthenticationTicket ticket = new FormsAuthenticationTicket(
                       1, // Ticket version
                       username, // Username associated with ticket
                       DateTime.Now, // Date/time issued
                       DateTime.Now.AddMinutes(30), // Date/time to expire
                       true, // "true" for a persistent user cookie
                       roles, // User-data, in this case the roles
                       FormsAuthentication.FormsCookiePath);// Path cookie valid for

            // Encrypt the cookie using the machine key for secure transport
            string hash = FormsAuthentication.Encrypt(ticket);
            HttpCookie cookie = new HttpCookie(
               FormsAuthentication.FormsCookieName, // Name of auth cookie
               hash); // Hashed ticket

            // Set the cookie's expiration time to the tickets expiration time
            if (ticket.IsPersistent) cookie.Expires = ticket.Expiration;

            // Add the cookie to the list for outgoing response
            HttpContext.Current.Response.Cookies.Add(cookie);

            return true;
        }
        catch
        {
            return (false);
        }
    }
}

i store the roles in my database with two tables: table: Role which has the columns: roleID and roleName and the table: UsersRoles wich has the columns: userID and roleID, this makes it possible for multiple roles for several users and it's easy to make your own logic to add/remove roles from users and so forth. This enables you to use [Authorize(Roles="Super Admin")] for instance. hope this helps.

edit: forgot to make the password check but you just add an if in the logOn method which checks if the username and password provided checks up and if not it returns false

Solution 4 - C#

I used the NauckIt.PostgreSQL provider's source code as a base, and modified it to suit my needs.

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Content TypeOriginal AuthorOriginal Content on Stackoverflow
Questionilija veselicaView Question on Stackoverflow
Solution 1 - C#danfromisraelView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 2 - C#uriDiumView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 3 - C#JoakimView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 4 - C#SztupYView Answer on Stackoverflow