ASP.NET Identity Tutorial – Getting Started

ASP.NET Identity is a membership system that adds authentication and authorization functionality to ASP.NET applications. This system provides user management, role-based authorization, and other essential features that are required when developing enterprise-level applications. This tutorial will guide you through the process of setting up the ASP.NET Identity system in your application, including creating a user, logging in, and accessing secure resources.

Prerequisites

Before you get started with this tutorial, you must have the following prerequisites:

• Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 or later (you can download and install the community edition from the Microsoft website)
• SQL Server or any other relational database management system
• Basic knowledge of C#

Getting Started with ASP.NET Identity

Step 1: Create a New Project in Visual Studio

Open Visual Studio and click on “Create a new project.” In the project template selection screen, select “ASP.NET Web Application,” and give your project a name and a location. Select “Web Application” as the project type, and then click “Create.”

Step 2: Adding ASP.NET Identity to your Project

The next step is to add the ASP.NET Identity system to your project. ASP.NET Identity uses the NuGet package manager to install and manage package dependencies. To add ASP.NET Identity to your project, go to the “Solution Explorer” pane, right-click on the project, and select “Manage NuGet Packages.”

In the “NuGet Package Manager,” search for “Microsoft.AspNet.Identity.Core” and “Microsoft.AspNet.Identity.EntityFramework” packages, then install them both into your project.

Step 3: Configuring ASP.NET Identity

After installing the ASP.NET Identity packages, you need to configure the system. Open the “Startup.cs” file, and add the following code to the “ConfigureServices” method.

“`
public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
{
services.AddDbContext(options =>
options.UseSqlServer(Configuration.GetConnectionString(“DefaultConnection”)));

services.AddIdentity()
.AddEntityFrameworkStores()
.AddDefaultTokenProviders();

services.Configure(options =>
{
// Password settings
options.Password.RequireDigit = true;
options.Password.RequireLowercase = true;
options.Password.RequireNonAlphanumeric = true;
options.Password.RequireUppercase = true;
options.Password.RequiredLength = 8;
options.Password.RequiredUniqueChars = 1;

// User settings
options.User.AllowedUserNameCharacters =
“abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789-._@+”;
options.User.RequireUniqueEmail = false;
});

services.ConfigureApplicationCookie(options =>
{
// Cookie settings
options.Cookie.HttpOnly = true;
options.ExpireTimeSpan = TimeSpan.FromMinutes(30);
options.LoginPath = “/Account/Login”;
options.AccessDeniedPath = “/Account/AccessDenied”;
options.SlidingExpiration = true;
});
}
“`

In this configuration code, you are telling the system to use the Microsoft SQL Server as the database provider and to use the default identity configurations provided by the ASP.NET Identity framework.

Step 4: Creating a User

Once you have configured the ASP.NET Identity system, you can start using it in your application. The Identity framework provides a UserManager class that you can use to manage users in your application. To create a user, add the following code to your controller action method.

“`
public async Task CreateUser()
{
var user = new ApplicationUser { UserName = “testuser@example.com”, Email = “testuser@example.com” };
var result = await _userManager.CreateAsync(user, “Aa1!xyz2”);
if (result.Succeeded)
{
// User Created Successfully
}
else
{
foreach (var error in result.Errors)
{
ModelState.AddModelError(“”, error.Description);
}
}
}
“`

In this method, you are creating a new ApplicationUser object and setting its UserName and Email properties. You are then using the UserManager object to create the user and its password. If the user is created successfully, the result of the operation will be Succeeded. Otherwise, you can access the list of error messages using the Errors property.

Step 5: Logging In

Now that you have created a user, you can log them into your application. You can use the SignInManager class to manage user authentication. Add the following code to your controller action method.

“`
public async Task Login()
{
var result = await _signInManager.PasswordSignInAsync(“testuser@example.com”, “Aa1!xyz2”, false, false);
if (result.Succeeded)
{
// Login Successful
}
else
{
ModelState.AddModelError(“”, “Invalid Login Attempt.”);
}
}
“`

In this method, you are using the SignInManager object to check the user’s credentials. If the user’s credentials are correct, the result of the operation will be Succeeded, and you can proceed with the user’s authentication. Otherwise, you can display an error message to the user.

Step 6: Accessing Secure Resources

You can use authorization attributes to secure access to specific resources in your application. To secure a resource, you can add the [Authorize] attribute to the controller action method or to the entire controller class. The [Authorize] attribute will restrict access to the resource to logged-in users only.

“`
[Authorize]
public IActionResult SecureResource()
{
// Do Something

return View();
}
“`

Once you have added this attribute to the controller action method, the system will automatically redirect users who are not logged in to the login page.

FAQs

Q: Can I use ASP.NET Identity without Entity Framework?
A: Yes, you can use ASP.NET Identity with any type of data storage mechanism, including NoSQL databases or plain text files. However, Entity Framework provides a wide range of features, including support for multiple databases and the ability to generate code from your database schema.

Q: Can I customize the ASP.NET Identity authentication process?
A: Yes, you can customize various aspects of the authentication process, including the password requirements, lockout policy, and cookie settings. You can also create custom authentication providers if you need to authenticate users against custom data sources.

Q: Can I use ASP.NET Identity with non-ASP.NET applications?
A: Yes, you can use ASP.NET Identity with any .NET application, including console applications, Windows Forms applications, or WPF applications. However, you will need to configure the system manually, as there are no built-in templates for non-ASP.NET applications.

Conclusion

ASP.NET Identity is a powerful authentication and authorization system that can simplify the development of enterprise-level applications. By following this tutorial, you should be able to set up and configure the system in your application, as well as create users, log them in, and secure access to specific resources. If you have any questions or run into any issues, feel free to consult the official documentation or reach out to the ASP.NET community for help.

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