Seth Barrett

Daily Blog Post: May 16th, 2023

java

May 16th, 2023

How to Add Authentication and Authorization to Your Web Application using ASP.NET Core Identity

In this post, we will explore how to add authentication and authorization to your web application using ASP.NET Core Identity.

Step 1: Understanding ASP.NET Core Identity

ASP.NET Core Identity is a membership system that allows you to add authentication and authorization to your web applications. It provides a set of libraries and tools for managing user authentication, roles, and permissions.

Some of the key features of ASP.NET Core Identity include:

  • User Registration and Management: You can register new users and manage user accounts, including password resets and account lockouts.
  • Authentication: You can authenticate users using a variety of methods, such as cookies, tokens, or external providers like Google or Facebook.
  • Authorization: You can define roles and permissions for your application and control access to specific areas or features.
  • Two-Factor Authentication: You can enable two-factor authentication for added security.
  • Social Login: You can allow users to sign in with their social media accounts.

Step 2: Adding Authentication and Authorization to Your Web Application

To add authentication and authorization to your web application using ASP.NET Core Identity, follow these steps:

  • Install the ASP.NET Core Identity package. In Visual Studio, right-click on your project and select "Manage NuGet Packages". Search for "Microsoft.AspNetCore.Identity" and install the package.
  • Update your DbContext. Open your DbContext file and add the following code:

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Identity.EntityFrameworkCore;
using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;

public class ApplicationDbContext : IdentityDbContext
{
    public ApplicationDbContext(DbContextOptions<ApplicationDbContext> options)
        : base(options)
    {
    }
}

  • Configure ASP.NET Core Identity. In the "Startup.cs" file, add the following code to the "ConfigureServices" method:

services.AddDbContext<ApplicationDbContext>(options =>
    options.UseSqlServer(Configuration.GetConnectionString("DefaultConnection")));

services.AddIdentity<IdentityUser, IdentityRole>()
    .AddEntityFrameworkStores<ApplicationDbContext>()
    .AddDefaultTokenProviders();

services.Configure<IdentityOptions>(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;

    // Lockout settings
    options.Lockout.DefaultLockoutTimeSpan = TimeSpan.FromMinutes(30);
    options.Lockout.MaxFailedAccessAttempts = 5;
    options.Lockout.AllowedForNewUsers = true;

    // User settings
    options.User.AllowedUserNameCharacters =
        "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789-._@+";
    options.User.RequireUniqueEmail = true;

    // SignIn settings
    options.SignIn.RequireConfirmedEmail = false;
    options.SignIn.RequireConfirmedPhoneNumber = false;
});

  • Add authentication middleware. In the "Startup.cs" file, add the following code to the "Configure" method:

app.UseAuthentication();

  • Add authorization middleware. In the "Startup.cs" file, add the following code to the "Configure" method:

app.UseAuthorization();

  • Create a user. You can create a user using the UserManager class. For example, to create a new user, you can add the following code to your controller:

var user = new IdentityUser { UserName = "testuser", Email = "testuser@example.com" };
    var result = await _userManager.CreateAsync(user, "P@ssw0rd");

  • Protect a route. To protect a route, you can add the [Authorize] attribute to your controller or action method. For example:

[Authorize]
public IActionResult Secret()
{
    return View();
}

Congratulations! You have successfully added authentication and authorization to your web application using ASP.NET Core Identity and C#.

In this series, we covered the basics of C# programming, how to set up a coding environment on Windows, how to create a simple web application using ASP, how to deploy your web application to a hosting provider, and how to add authentication and authorization using ASP.NET Core Identity.

ASP.NET Core is a powerful framework for building web applications using C#. It provides a wide range of tools and libraries for web development, making it easy to build scalable, maintainable, and secure applications.

We hope this series has helped you get started with C# web programming using ASP.NET Core. If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to leave a comment below. Happy coding!