Here's how I do it.
I decided to use IPrincipal instead of IIdentity because it means I don't have to implement both IIdentity and IPrincipal.
Create the interface
interface ICustomPrincipal : IPrincipal
{
int Id { get; set; }
string FirstName { get; set; }
string LastName { get; set; }
}
CustomPrincipal
public class CustomPrincipal : ICustomPrincipal
{
public IIdentity Identity { get; private set; }
public bool IsInRole(string role) { return false; }
public CustomPrincipal(string email)
{
this.Identity = new GenericIdentity(email);
}
public int Id { get; set; }
public string FirstName { get; set; }
public string LastName { get; set; }
}
CustomPrincipalSerializeModel - for serializing custom information into userdata field in FormsAuthenticationTicket object.
public class CustomPrincipalSerializeModel
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string FirstName { get; set; }
public string LastName { get; set; }
}
LogIn method - setting up a cookie with custom information
if (Membership.ValidateUser(viewModel.Email, viewModel.Password))
{
var user = userRepository.Users.Where(u => u.Email == viewModel.Email).First();
CustomPrincipalSerializeModel serializeModel = new CustomPrincipalSerializeModel();
serializeModel.Id = user.Id;
serializeModel.FirstName = user.FirstName;
serializeModel.LastName = user.LastName;
JavaScriptSerializer serializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();
string userData = serializer.Serialize(serializeModel);
FormsAuthenticationTicket authTicket = new FormsAuthenticationTicket(
1,
viewModel.Email,
DateTime.Now,
DateTime.Now.AddMinutes(15),
false,
userData);
string encTicket = FormsAuthentication.Encrypt(authTicket);
HttpCookie faCookie = new HttpCookie(FormsAuthentication.FormsCookieName, encTicket);
Response.Cookies.Add(faCookie);
return RedirectToAction("Index", "Home");
}
Global.asax.cs - Reading cookie and replacing HttpContext.User object, this is done by overriding PostAuthenticateRequest
protected void Application_PostAuthenticateRequest(Object sender, EventArgs e)
{
HttpCookie authCookie = Request.Cookies[FormsAuthentication.FormsCookieName];
if (authCookie != null)
{
FormsAuthenticationTicket authTicket = FormsAuthentication.Decrypt(authCookie.Value);
JavaScriptSerializer serializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();
CustomPrincipalSerializeModel serializeModel = serializer.Deserialize<CustomPrincipalSerializeModel>(authTicket.UserData);
CustomPrincipal newUser = new CustomPrincipal(authTicket.Name);
newUser.Id = serializeModel.Id;
newUser.FirstName = serializeModel.FirstName;
newUser.LastName = serializeModel.LastName;
HttpContext.Current.User = newUser;
}
}
Access in Razor views
@((User as CustomPrincipal).Id)
@((User as CustomPrincipal).FirstName)
@((User as CustomPrincipal).LastName)
and in code:
(User as CustomPrincipal).Id
(User as CustomPrincipal).FirstName
(User as CustomPrincipal).LastName
I think the code is self-explanatory. If it isn't, let me know.
Additionally to make the access even easier you can create a base controller and override the returned User object (HttpContext.User):
public class BaseController : Controller
{
protected virtual new CustomPrincipal User
{
get { return HttpContext.User as CustomPrincipal; }
}
}
and then, for each controller:
public class AccountController : BaseController
{
// ...
}
which will allow you to access custom fields in code like this:
User.Id
User.FirstName
User.LastName
But this will not work inside views. For that you would need to create a custom WebViewPage implementation:
public abstract class BaseViewPage : WebViewPage
{
public virtual new CustomPrincipal User
{
get { return base.User as CustomPrincipal; }
}
}
public abstract class BaseViewPage<TModel> : WebViewPage<TModel>
{
public virtual new CustomPrincipal User
{
get { return base.User as CustomPrincipal; }
}
}
Make it a default page type in Views/web.config:
<pages pageBaseType="Your.Namespace.BaseViewPage">
<namespaces>
<add namespace="System.Web.Mvc" />
<add namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Ajax" />
<add namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Html" />
<add namespace="System.Web.Routing" />
</namespaces>
</pages>
and in views, you can access it like this:
@User.FirstName
@User.LastName
MemberShip...,Principal,Identity. ASP.NET should make this easier, simpler and at most two approaches for dealing with authentication. – broadband