ASP.NET ships with a SqlMembershipProvider and a ActiveDirectoryMembershipProvider that
makes user authentication and authorization very easy to implement, but for some reason those
are the only membership providers provided natively by ASP.NET 2.0. So, what
do you do when you don't want or can't use SQL Server or Active Directory for
memberships? You have to build a custom membership provider that suits your needs.
That’s exactly what I faced when I wanted an XML membership provider for a small web
project. The only one I could find on the web was a very simple read-only
xml provider from MSDN. I then changed it to be writable as well, so you can dynamically
add new users among other things. I also encrypted the passwords so no one is able
to make sense out of them when looking at the XML file.
It’s plug n’ play, it works and it makes user authentication ridiculously easy. Download
the code at the bottom and dump the XmlMembershipProvider.cs class into the App_Code
folder and the users.xml into the App_Data folder. Then write this in the web.config.
<membership defaultProvider="XmlMembershipProvider">
<providers>
<add name="XmlMembershipProvider" type="XmlMembershipProvider" description="XML
membership provider" xmlFileName="~/App_Data/users.xml"/>
</providers>
</membership>
Now you have a membership provider that enables you to make use of the collection
of built in authentication controls. You can also interact directly with the provider
without using the built in controls. Here's an example of how to create a new user:
MembershipCreateStatus status;
Membership.Provider.CreateUser("admin", "adminpw", "admin@domain.com", string.Empty, string.Empty, true, "admin", out status);
Even though you can access the provider programmatically, nothing beats the simplicity
of the built in controls. To start using the XmlMembershipProvider, drag a CreateUserWizard
to your webform and let the magic begin.
Download
XmlMembershipProvider.zip
(3,45 KB)
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