I am somewhat of a novice application developer, certainly very new to MVC4 and have been through a number of handy tutorials to learn the core principles of MVC. I do get lost with terminology as someone who is entirley self taught.
I am trying to replace an application I wrote previously that uses ASP.net membership which I was able to create myself. This application is an issue logging and reporting system that does a lot with an SQL database.
I have no concern dropping all the users and rebuilding the user database in the new simplemembership provider. Although, I am not sure where to start.
I feel as though using the ready made "internet application" template means I end up with loads of files / folders I do not need (or understand), so my question is, how to I start with MVC4 and simplemembership, ideally without using the "internet application" template.
Thank you.
The Internet template does not add that many unnecessary files. It will add controllers, views, and models you will need for handling user log-on and registration. If you start from an Empty MVC project you will have to create these items from scratch. If you want to start from scratch I would take a look at the open source project SimpleSecurity that decouples SimpleMembership from your MVC application. There is an article here that describes this approach which will make it easier to incorporate SimpleMembership into an Empty MVC project. You can look at the example in the SimpleSecurity project so you can copy the controllers, views and models you will need. The example adds email confirmation and other features that are not available in the Internet template.
There are some unnecessary files, but it depends on how you define "unnecessary".
If you don't care about signing in with a facebook or google account, and you don't care about WebApi, and you don't care about knockout.js and other stuff, you're free to delete it. You can use Nuget to uninstall the Webapi stuff. And you can also remove the OpenId stuff, but you will have to modify your AccountController to remove the code that makes use of it.
It would help if you could ask specific questions.. vague questions like this are hard to answer because we don't know what's unnecessary for you.
Thanks for your help, I know my question was vague, but I was only able to build my new site from an empty template by following this guide.
I have changed a few things (i.e. an instance of SQL rather than local DB) and it all worked.
How to add ASP.NET Membership Provider in a Empty MVC 4 Project Template?
Related
When I started development of my current project I had no knowledge or prior experience of web development, ASP.Net (Core), C#, JS and so on.
With a lot of reading, excercising and testing I now have an ASP.Net Core 2.2 web application with multi-tenancy based on the database-per-tenant strategy hosted on Azure with Azure SQL as backend.
I have a solution with 2 projects:
the MVC web application that also has the .Net Core Identity from which I use the individual user accounts stored in ASPNet... tables (I did implement my custom UI, mainly so I could use the Localization middleware already used throughout the application)
a data layer that contains the db context's, the data models and the repository
Now I need at add an API.
The sole purpose of the API is cleary defined: give customers(tenants) the possibility to import and export data, most likely connected to other customer's application(s). This API will not be used by the UI. The API will not be hit with thousands of queries per second. It will be part of a business solution with 50 to 200 customers who will perform occassional import/export actions.
I have already implemented Identity and the authentication for the API should be done against the users setup in Identity but with a different authentication mechanism.
I have done a fair bit of searching and reading and found many tutorials/blogs on how to create a WebAPI with .Net Core but they all start from a new project and never go much more into depth. The once that really go in-depth are too complex for me ...
I have 3 questions unanswered at the moment although I know that there's probably more than 1 good answer to each of the questions but I think these are the likes of questions that many in my position, beyond the newbie/beginner but not yet a seasoned veteran, have and are searching for so I hope this post helps not just me but many others as well.
Question 1 - Architecture, where to create the API (project)?
There are 3 possibilities:
1 Add APIControllers to the MVC application (organize API-related classes in separate folders)
Benefits
quick and easy, everything else is already in place
deploys with the solution
Concerns
as it is part of the solution it becomes very monolithic, less flexible
Questions
can I implement a second authentication/authorization mechanism next to the implemented individual user accounts? (more detailed in the second question which is all about security)
2 Add a WebAPI project to the solution
Benefits
better separation but can still use/reference the resources of the other projects
probably gives benefits for scaling and tuning?
Questions
can I implement a second authentication/authorization mechanism next to the implemented individual user accounts leveraging the Identity of the MVC project? (more detailed in the second question which is all about security)
is this project separately published to Azure (or any cloud provider for that matter) using the www.example.com/api path (virtual directory) or is the solution published a whole?
3 Create a separate solution with the WebAPI project and include the data layer project
Benefits
full separation although sharing the use of the data layer project
completely independent with regards to deployment, scalability etc.
Concerns
maybe adds a layer of unnecessary complexity (the API will not handle thousands of requests per second)
Everything that is already configured/setup in the MVC project and that is required will need to be redone
Questions
can I include the data layer project in the solution (it is then part of 2 solutions) or should I reference it as a dll?
Question 2 - how to implement Authentication/Authorization that resides side-by-side with the Identity individual user account?
This is related only to the first 2 options of the architecture as in the third option the project would be on it's own.
The basic question is how to setup more than one authentication mechanism, one for UI users and another for API access.
First there is the choice of Authentication, most of tutorials blogs talk about JWT and Auth (OAuth?). I am not asking what the "best" solution is but which solution would be "preferred" by B2B customers who are the only ones that will use the API.
I am not sure how to redirect to the right authentication: when a request is sent to an API controller method with the Authorize attribute and the user hasn't been authenticated yet it needs to reply with an error.
Currently if a method with the Authorize attribute is executed by an unauthenticated user the user is redirected to the login page as configured in startup.cs:
public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
{
...
services.PostConfigure<CookieAuthenticationOptions>(IdentityConstants.ApplicationScheme,
opt => {
opt.LoginPath = "/User/Login";
...
Do I need to configure this with something like the example I found below:
app.UseWhen(x => (x.Request.Path.StartsWithSegment("/api", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase)),
builder =>
{
builder.UseMiddleware<AuthenticationMiddleware>();
});
or is this configured in a different way?
In the case of creating the API as a separate project should I use the "Multiple startup projects" option? I guess this means that I need to create the whole startup.cs again?
Question 3 - if I want to offer my customers a REST API and an OData API, can I handle this through a single API or do I need to develop a second to support OData?
I know it is lengthy but I'm sure that others are looking for similar information and I'd appreciate any input.
Thanks
I want to make a quick, safe and nice application.
For many years I have been programming in PHP and regular ASP. But wanted to go on with .NET and vue.js.
So I have an idea, I wanted to create and plan to do it like this:
I was thinking of using hosting from an external service.
Then I would have three projects:
domain.com/index - Vue.js which will be a SPA, where the user can filter through a catalog, press like and send few api requests (mainly get-requests).
secure.domain.com - Here I will have a .net mvc project where I can use identity. This will make it simple to handle/register users. I will also give the correct session here for authenticated users. And it will affect domain.com/index, where they only are allowed to do some of the things if they are logged in
api.domain.com - This will be the webapi api. Only authenticated users will be allowed to send some of the requests.
I have used several weeks at looking into how to structure this.
But as I do not have much experience with this.
What pitfalls and bad consequences do you see in structuring it like this?
Are there any heads up you want to give me? Or any other recommendations?
I have been trying to melt all of this together in one project, but that has been difficult, because they operate in different ways. So now I have ended up with this, and look forward to
Size of project
It will be a relative small project.
People should be able to register/authenticate themselves (through facebook/google/server login).
Authenticated People should be able to add records(links) to a database. When adding this to the database they may also want to upload files, and choose some additional information.
All people should be able to filter through the catalog of records (5000+) ( Here I am using vue.js/vuex/axios). Here they should be able to comment too on links too.
Webapi will have 8 entities/tables and one view which will GET all the information. 3 tables should be able to have POST.
So it is more or less a catalog, where people should be able to add records and find new ones.
I was planning to use the identity from asp.net core 3.1. It is a "template" where I can easily add 3rd party logins. (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/security/authentication/identity?view=aspnetcore-3.1&tabs=visual-studio)
Additional questions:
Can you tell me how request from SPA will be authenticated in your API? (Jwt or cookie)? Why would you like to have a separate identity service, also Why you would like to use asp.net identity (is it because of ease of setup)?
I have not been thinking about authenticating API requests. Was thinking to only have authenticated users who can send POST-requests. And the rest will be get requests. Limited only from the server. Should I have some additional authentication? Does JWT make web APIs safe enough for my use?
Was thinking of using .net identity because it is simple. And I don't want to use time on setting it up.
Since this is your first project of this type, I would recommend to keep it simple.
Just create one web site. Otherwise you might get issues with the cookies not working for subdomains and you will also get issues with CORS. That is, you will get all problems at the same to time (configuration issues, infrastructure issues and the pain from writing the application itself).
You can still have a clean separation by using sub folders (or Areas in MVC) and by using class libraries for the backend (API) business logic.
Once you have mastered the basics (i.e. writing the actual application) you can start looking at other means of separation etc.
I need to create a very basic log in system to allow access to an admin portal.
I'll need to hold email, password and a field to identify access level (admin, read-only or edit).
Users will be created by an admin, where they will get sent an email with a generated password. There will be no user registration page.
Asp.net core Identity would handle all this...but my question is it overkill for a small application?
That is really a matter of opinion. I don't mind overkilling small tasks, as I learn a lot in the process. If it's a system between a small group, you could just implement a reset-button for you, that resets whoever you want, and generates a new random password. I have done that in the past.
Also .Net Core Identity handles a lot of the boilerplate code, so it's not that difficult to implement. There are a lot of great guides out there.
...but my question is it overkill for a small application?
Depends on your definition of an overkill.
It will allow you to setup working identity system in a few clicks, so from that point of view, having to code all that stuff from scratch would be an overkill.
On the other hand, the generated tables have a few excess (for your use case) columns that might seem like an overkill. There is also support for functionality like 2FA, which you may not need.
Bottom line: by choosing to use the identity system, you save time and gain some extraneous functionality.
I have been using .net for a very long time, and for a long time implemented custom user management (overriding built in providers, and customising to my own database structures etc) This is required if implementing over legacy system but for new development and security, it worth using off-the-shelf authorization/authentication systems whether it's built in or supported by .Net or using 3rd party services.
I need simple log in functionality in my project (logged in users can access and modify their profile). I've read a book "PRO ASP.NET MVC 5" by Adam Freeman where he quickly written a simple, short and elegant login mechanism just by using authorization and authentication filters and extending from some built-in classes. However, I just checked the internet and found many completely opposite approaches using classes such as Identity and Claim and achieved by writing LOTS of code, i.e. this or this.
Is it really necessary to implement a huge framework and write many lines of code just for a simple log in approach with some security? Is it really that bad to rely on authentication and authorization filters?
Yes, I am planning on publishing my project, but it's really very small.
What would be the best and the most beneficial practice for creating a basic log in functionality?
when you create asp.net mvc 5 webapp you will find asp.net-identity already exist you just have to make simple changes in the user to link it to your other entites
I have developed custom form builder type application using ASP.NET 3 years back. Now working on new project and it has similar requirement. I think there must be something new and easy to do same thing using MVC4 or ASP.NET 4.5 web forms. Any pointers?
Requirement in detail,
This is a web application
Authorised users login to web site and given the option to fill in the form
This form captures the information which then sent to third party
Third party keep reviewing their system and may ask for more details in future
My application needs modification to capture this extra(or say changing) information
Is there any way I can change only DB model to accommodate these extra fields and they will automatically appear on form without any code changes to UI or BL level?
I am not too sure what you are trying to accomplish but maybe this could help ?
http://lostechies.com/erichexter/2012/11/20/twitter-bootstrap-mvc4-the-template-nuget-package-for-asp-net-mvc4-projects/
Look at how they automatically generate the bootstrap views depending on which view model get's passed.