Adding additional fields in ApplicationUser class - asp.net

I have a WebForms applicaiton using the new ASP.NET Identity. I've added a couple of additional fields in the class to allow for Email and a Boolean called IsOnLine.
I use migrations, to explicititly update the tables, and can see that my new fields are there. However, whenever I try to login now i get the following error:
Additional information: The 'IsOnLine' property on 'ApplicationUser' could not be set to a 'null' value. You must set this property to a non-null value of type 'System.Boolean'.
All the exmamples on the net relate to MVC, which i'm not using yet.
How can i fix this?

A bool cannot be null so that is what is set to in the database. If you want it to be null you will need to define it as a nullable bool using the ? operator.
public class ApplicationUser : IdentityUser
{
public bool? IsOnline { get; set; }
}
To update this information in the database take a look at this article on adding email confirmation to ASP.NET Identity. In this example there is a boolean flag IsConfirmed that is updated during the registration process, which will be similar to your IsOnline flag. Here is a snippet of the relevant code to update the database.
user.IsOnline = true;
DbSet<ApplicationUser> dbSet = context.Set<ApplicationUser>();
dbSet.Attach(user);
context.Entry(user).State = EntityState.Modified;
context.SaveChanges();

I prefer to avoid null values whenever possible, to determine if a property can accept nulls values it is better to think what that information represents in the domain problem. In this case i think it not make sense to have an undetermined value for IsOnline because the user is online or offline, not middle terms apply to this fact.
To resolve this problem with the database, taking advantage that you are using Code Migration , you can use the Seed method from Configuration class and assing the value(s) to your new fields that are not nullable.
Pseudo code:
Seed()
for each user
set user IsOnline to false

Related

Add record to table with FK

I have a table UserStoreName,
Columns are :
int Id
string UserNameId (as a FK of the table AspNetUsers (Column Id))
sring StoreName
I have a page AddStore, a very simple page where user just enter the store name into the StoreName Field.
I already know the UserNameId, i'm taking it from the User.
So when user populate the storeName field and click submit i just need to add a record to the table UserStoreName.
sounds easy.
when i click submit the AddStore function from the controller is giving me ModelState.IsValid = false.
reason for that is cause userNameId is a required field.
i want to populate that field in the AddStore
function but when we get there the modelState is already invalid because of a required field in userStoreNameId enter code here
Here is the AddStore in case it will help :
[HttpPost]
[ValidateAntiForgeryToken]
public IActionResult AddStore(UserStoreName userStoreName)
{
userStoreName.UserNameId =
(_unitOfWork.ApplicationUser.GetAll().Where(q => q.UserName == User.Identity.Name).Select(q => q.Id)).FirstOrDefault();
userStoreName.UserName = User.Identity.Name;
userStoreName.IsAdminStore = false;
if (ModelState.IsValid)
{
_unitOfWork.UserStoreName.Add(userStoreName);
_unitOfWork.Save();
return RedirectToAction(nameof(Index));
}
return View(userStoreName);
}
Any idea what am i doing wrong? new to asp.net core mvc, its my first project.
Thanks :)
Thank you
If the UserNameId field is required, it must be supplied to pass model validation.
There are two ways around this. First, you could create a View Model, with just the fields you plan on actually submitting, and use it in place of the userStoreName variable. Then in the controller action, you can just instantiate a new UserStoreName object, and fill out the fields.
Alternatively, you could pass the UserNameId variable to the view, and populate the model client side using a hidden field, so it passes validation when returned to the controller. Hidden fields can potentially have their values edited client-side, however, so it may be worth checking the value again server side, especially if there are any security implications.
Foreign keys can be nullable so just make sure the UserNameId field is not marked with the "[Required]" Data Annotation in your model.
You'll also need to make sure that the column is nullable on the UserStoreName table to match the model otherwise it'll cause problems if your model is different from its underlying table.
Just a small suggestion also, I wouldn't foreign key on strings, I would change your model foreign key to an int, and make sure that the column in the table it's related to is also an int. It's a lot safer to do so, especially if you're dealing with IDENTITY columns.
If there is anything wrong with the reference, an exception will throw when the code tries to save your change, usually because the value it has in the FK reference cannot be found in the related table.

Default value for ViewModel

I'm making a simple Search page in MVC with some filters in it. The filters are represented by properties in my ViewModel. My ViewModel is binded to a GET form in the cshtml so my filter will appears in the querystrings and the user will be able to bookmark his search.
What I want to do is to assign a default value to some of my filters.
My (simplified) ViewModel :
public class SearchViewModel
{
//Filter I want to set a default value to
public OrganizationType? OrganizationType {get; set;}
//Results of the search
public IEnumerable<ItemViewModel> Items {get; set;}
}
I'd like to set a default value for OrganizationType. I can't simply set it in the constructor of SearchViewModel because it depends on the current user :
public void InitViewModel(SearchViewModel vm)
{
vm.OrganizationType = _someLogic.GetDefaultValue(_currentUser);
}
First solution was simply to check if OrganizationType is null, then assign a default value :
public ActionResult Search(SearchViewModel vm)
{
if(vm.OrganizationType == null)
vm.OrganizationType = _someLogic.GetDefaultValue(_currentUser);
return View(vm);
}
But this solution doesn't work as a null value corresponds to an empty filter and it's a choice that the user can make. So I can't override it.
The second solution I tried was to specify that the default value of the controller should be null in the Search action :
public ActionResult Search(SearchViewModel vm = null)
{
if (vm == null)
{
vm = new SearchViewModel();
InitViewModel(vm);
}
...
return View(vm);
}
But in practice, the variable vm is never null, so the default values are never setted.
I also tried having two Action, one wihout a ViewModel where I instanciate a new ViewModel with the default values and then call the second action :
public ActionResult Search()
{
var vm = new SearchViewModel();
InitViewModel(vm);
//Simply call the second action with the initizalied ViewModel
return Search(vm);
}
public ActionResult Search(SearchViewModel vm)
{
...
return View(vm);
}
But it doesn't work because there is now an ambiguity between the two action, and asp.net doesn't know which one to choose.
So in summary, I'd like to find a way to set a default value for a ViewModel, without setting it in the constructor and overriding user choices.
Another way to say it, how can I distinguish an "empty" ViewModel from one where some values are binded from the form.
Any idea ?
Ok I think I found a solution to my own problem...
I can use the ModelState property of the controler to check it the ViewModel is empty or was binded from the form :
public ActionResult Search(SearchViewModel vm = null)
{
if (ModelState.Count == 0)
{
InitViewModel(vm);
}
...
return View(vm);
}
So if ModelState.Count equals to 0 it means that user didn't change any filters. So the form is empty and we can bind our default values. As soon as the user will change one of the filters or submit the request, the ModelState.Count will be greater than 0 so we shouldn't set the default value. Otherwise we would override an user choice.
The logic of what you're doing is a little iffy. Generally speaking, if a value is nullable then null is the default value. However, it seems that you're trying to make a distinction here between whether the value is null because it's not set or null because the user explicitly set it to null. This type of semantic variance is usually a bad idea. If null has a meaning, then it should always carry that meaning. Otherwise, your code becomes more confusing and bugs are generally introduced as a result.
That said, you can't count on ModelState having no items. I've honestly never played around with ModelState enough in scenarios where there's not post data, but it's possible there's some scenario where there's no post data and yet ModelState may have items. Even if there isn't, this is an implementation detail. What if Microsoft does an update that adds items to ModelState in situations where it previously had none. Then, your code breaks with no obvious reason why.
The only thing you can really count on here is whether the request method is GET or POST. In the GET version of your action, you can reasonably assume that the user has made no modifications. Therefore, in this scenario, you can simply set the value to whatever you like without concern.
In the POST version of your action, the user has made some sort of modification. However, at this point, there is no way to distinguish any more whether the value is null because it is or because the user explicitly wanted it to be. Therefore, you must respect the value as-is.

Updating object with related entities from detached state

When I query from the entity framework I always query in a detached state so that the records retrieved can be stored in cache for subsequent requests.
Right now I have a form that the user can edit which contains a parent record, and then two lists of parent records.
When the data is POSTed to the server, I take my view models and map them into the entity framework objects using AutoMapper. The data looks fine; AutoMapper is mapping the data correctly.
When I attach the object so that I can update it, an exception is thrown: A referential integrity constraint violation occurred: The property values that define the referential constraints are not consistent between principal and dependent objects in the relationship.
public static void UpdateOrder(ShippingOrder shippingOrder) {
using (OrderEntity orderContext = new OrderEntity()) {
//Exception happens here
orderContext.ShippingOrders.Attach(shippingOrder);
//Update the order itself; mark the order has being modified so the EF will update it.
orderContext.ObjectStateManager.ChangeObjectState(shippingOrder, System.Data.EntityState.Modified);
//Perform the update.
orderContext.SaveChanges();
}
}
The EntityFramework (EF) seems to think that my keys aren't lining up, but I'm not sure what isn't correct. The foreign key property does have the correct value, so I'm not sure what it's checking. Does anyone have any ideas?
You might try something like this:
ShippingOrder existingShippingOrder = orderContext.ShippingOrders.Find(shippingOrder.ID);
orderContext.Entry(existingShippingOrder ).CurrentValues.SetValues(shippingOrder);
Instead of
orderContext.ObjectStateManager.ChangeObjectState(shippingOrder, System.Data.EntityState.Modified);
try this
orderContext.Entry(ShippingOrder).State = EntityState.Modified;
as explained here
Insert or update pattern A common pattern for some applications is to
either Add an entity as new (resulting in a database insert) or Attach
an entity as existing and mark it as modified (resulting in a database
update) depending on the value of the primary key. For example, when
using database generated integer primary keys it is common to treat an
entity with a zero key as new and an entity with a non-zero key as
existing. This pattern can be achieved by setting the entity state
based on a check of the primary key value. For example:
public void InsertOrUpdate(DbContext context, Unicorn unicorn)
{
context.Entry(unicorn).State = unicorn.Id == 0 ?
EntityState.Added :
EntityState.Modified;
context.SaveChanges();
}
you can try
public static void UpdateOrder(ShippingOrder shippingOrder) {
using (OrderEntity orderContext = new OrderEntity()) {
orderContext.Entry(shippingOrder).State = shippingOrder.Id==0?
EntityState.Added :
EntityState.Modified;
orderContext.SaveChanges();
}
}
UPDATE:
for ObjectContext class you can try
public static void UpdateOrder(ShippingOrder shippingOrder) {
using (OrderEntity orderContext = new OrderEntity()) {
orderContext.ObjectStateManager.ChangeObjectState(shippingOrder, EntityState.Modified);
orderContext.SaveChanges();
}
}

Why isn't server side validation working in my ASP.Net MVC3 application with Entity Framework?

I have an ASP.NET MVC3 application that uses entities generated from a database. Each entity has also has a separate partial class that uses the MetadataType attribute to associate each entity with a class that is decorated with a number of validation attributes (see below).
[MetadataType(typeof(Drawing.Metadata))]
public partial class Drawing
{
private sealed class Metadata
{
[Required]
[StringLength(50, MinimumLength = 3, ErrorMessage = "Drawing numbers must be between {2} and {1} characters in length.")]
[DisplayName("Drawing number")]
public string Number { get; set; }
[Required]
[StringLength(255, MinimumLength = 3, ErrorMessage = "Drawing titles must be between {2} and {1} characters in length.")]
public string Title { get; set; }
}
}
My controller code looks like this:
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Create(Drawing drawing)
{
if (ModelState.IsValid)
{
// Save to database here...
return RedirectToAction("Index");
}
else
{
return View(drawing);
}
}
I have used the Visual Studio templates to create the views to add, edit and delete the entities (The designer code has not been altered).
The problem I am having is that when I create an entity, validation only works if I have client side validation enabled. If I turn off the client side validation then ModelState.IsValid always seems to return true and returns me to the index page.
Can anyone provide any suggestions on how to get server side validation working with Entity Framework entities?
UPDATE:
It seems this question is similar to mine. The author of this post seems to have solved the problem but rather unhelpfully omitted to mention how they fixed the problem...
I found another solution to this problem. Because I didn't really want to set my properties to nullable I added the following:
[DisplayFormat(ConvertEmptyStringToNull = false)]
Adding the following annotation to your model property fixes the error as well.
After further investigation it seems that my problem is occuring due to a ConstraintException being thrown by my entity class (which inherits from ObjectContext) when the default model binder tries to bind the user input values (Null in this case) to the entity properties.
I can see 2 possible solutions to this:
Relax the constraints on my database tables (I don't want to do this).
Make the entity fields nullable (use the entity designer set the nullable property to yes)
I have used and tested the second option and can confirm that server side validation now works as expected.
Whilst researching solutions to this problem I have come to the conclusion that the problem is due to my entities inheriting from ObjectContext which is quite a heavy class. I found a lot of tutorials which used a code-first approach. In this case, the entity class will inherit from DbContext which is much more lightweight so I guess this could be considered a third solution to the problem.

How do you get the UserID of a User object in ASP.Net MVC?

I have some tables that have a uniqueidentifier UserID that relates to aspnet_Users.UserID. When the user submits some data for those tables, since the controller method has an [Authorize] I get a User object. I can get the username with User.Identity.Name, but how do I get the UserID to be able to establish (the ownership) relationship?
It seems you cannot get it from the User object but you can get it this way:
Guid userGuid = (Guid)Membership.GetUser().ProviderUserKey;
Here is the solution:
Include:
using Microsoft.AspNet.Identity;
Then use extension methods:
User.Identity.GetUserId();
Firstly, this answer is not strictly an MVC answer, but an ASP.NET answer. The fact that your site is MVC is irrelevant to solving the problem, in this case.
Hmm. I'm not very sure how you are handling your users in your system but it sounds like you using the (very evil) asp.net membership provider that comes out of the box with .net. This is hinted by the fact that you said
aspnet_Users.UserID
UserID is a uniqueidentifier (read: GUID).
With the default forms authentication system, which uses the default FormsIdentity, it only has a single property called Name (as you correctly noted). This means it has only one value where to place some unique user information. In your case, you are putting Name/UserName/DisplayName, in the Name property. I'm assuming this name is their Display Name and it is unique. Whatever value you are putting in here, it HAS TO BE UNIQUE.
From this, you can grab the user's guid.
Check this out.
using System.Web.Security;
....
// NOTE: This is a static method .. which makes things easier to use.
MembershipUser user = Membership.GetUser(User.Identity.Name);
if (user == null)
{
throw new InvalidOperationException("User [" +
User.Identity.Name + " ] not found.");
}
// Do whatever u want with the unique identifier.
Guid guid = (Guid)user.ProviderUserKey;
So, every time you wish to grab the user information, you need to grab it from the database using the static method above.
Read all about the Membership class and MembershipUser class on MSDN.
Bonus Answer / Suggestion
As such, i would CACHE that result so you don't need to keep hitting the database.
... cont from above....
Guid guid = (Guid)user.ProviderUserKey;
Cache.Add(User.Identity.Name, user.UserID); // Key: Username; Value: Guid.
Otherwise, you can create your own Identity class (which inherits from IIdentity) and add your own custom properties, like UserID. Then, whenever you authenticate (and also on every request) you can set this value. Anyway, this is a hard core solution, so go with the caching, right now.
HTH
User.Identity is an IPrincipal - typically of type System.Web.Security.FormsIdentity
It doesn't know anything about UserIDs - it's just an abstraction of the concept of an 'identity'.
The IIdentity interface only has 'Name' for a user, not even 'Username'.
If you're using MVC4 with the default SimpleMembershipProvider you can do this:
WebSecurity.GetUserId(User.Identity.Name) // User is on ControllerBase
(Where WebSecurity is in the nuget package Microsoft.AspNet.WebPages.WebData in WebMatrix
You can also use
WebSecurity.CurrentUserName
WebSecurity.CurrentUserId
(if you're using ASPNetMembershipProvider which is the older more complex ASPNET membership system then see the answer by #eduncan911)
If you are using the ASP.NET Membership (which in turn uses the IPrincipal object):
using System.Web.Security;
{
MembershipUser user = Membership.GetUser(HttpContext.User.Identity.Name);
Guid guid = (Guid)user.ProviderUserKey;
}
User.Identity always returns the state of the current user, logged in or not.
Anonymous or not, etc. So a check for is logged in:
if (User.Identity.IsAuthenticated)
{
...
}
So, putting it all together:
using System.Web.Security;
{
if (User.Identity.IsAuthenticated)
{
MembershipUser user = Membership.GetUser(HttpContext.User.Identity.Name);
Guid guid = (Guid)user.ProviderUserKey;
}
}
Best Option to Get User ID
Add Below references
using Microsoft.AspNet.Identity;
using Microsoft.AspNet.Identity.EntityFramework;
using Microsoft.Owin.Security;*
public myFunc()
{
.....
// Code which will give you user ID is
var tmp = User.Identity.GetUserId();
}
If you are using your own IPrincipal object for authorization, you just need to cast it to access the Id.
For example:
public class MyCustomUser : IPrincipal
{
public int UserId {get;set;}
//...Other IPrincipal stuff
}
Here is a great tutorial on creating your own Form based authentication.
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/web-security/AspNetCustomAuth.aspx
That should get you on the right path to creating an authentication cookie for your user and accessing your custom user data.
using System.Web.Security;
MembershipUser user = Membership.GetUser(User.Identity.Name);
int id = Convert.ToInt32(user.ProviderUserKey);
Its the ProviderUserKey property.
System.Web.Security.MembershipUser u;
u.ProviderUserKey
Simple....
int userID = WebSecurity.CurrentUserId;
Usually you can just use WebSecurity.currentUserId, but if you're in AccountController just after the account has been created and you want to use the user id to link the user to some data in other tables then WebSecurity.currentUserId (and all of the solutions above), unfortunately, in that case returns -1, so it doesn't work.
Luckily in this case you have the db context for the UserProfiles table handy, so you can get the user id by the following:
UserProfile profile = db.UserProfiles.Where(
u => u.UserName.Equals(model.UserName)
).SingleOrDefault();
I came across this case recently and this answer would have saved me a whole bunch of time, so just putting it out there.

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