Asp .Net Custom membership parameters from web.config - asp.net

Question

I am currently writting a custom membership provider for asp .net and the problem that I am having is that I don't know how to give parameters to the custom membership provider in the same way that you give to the standard asp .net membership providers in the web.config file like password length.

Answer 1

When you derive your own class from MembershipProvider you have to override the Initialize() method, it has following signature:
public override void Initialize(string name, NameValueCollection config);
The System.Collections.NameValueCollection is a dictionary where you find the options written in the web.config file. These options are given in the same way you specify options for "standard" providers (as attributes). Each dictionary entry has the key of the attribute name and as value the attribute's value (as string).
public class MyMembershipProvider : MembershipProvider
{
public override void Initialize(string name, NameValueCollection config)
{
base.Initialize(name, config);
_enablePasswordReset = config.GetBoolean("enablePasswordReset", true);
}
}
Where, in my example, GetBoolean() is an extension method declared somewhere as follow:
public static bool GetBoolean(this NameValueCollection config,
string valueName, bool? defaultValue)
{
object obj = config[valueName];
if (obj == null)
{
if (!defaultValue.HasValue)
throw new WarningException("Required field has not been specified.");
return defaultValue.Value;
}
bool value = defaultValue;
if (obj is Boolean)
return (bool)obj;
IConvertible convertible = obj as IConvertible;
try
{
return convertible.ToBoolean(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
}
catch (Exception)
{
if (!defaultValue.HasValue)
throw new WarningException("Required field has invalid format.");
return defaultValue.Value;
}
}

Answer 2

If your provider derives from MembershipProvider : ProviderBase than all the configuration should be loaded and applied form web.config.
Consider implementing custom IPrincipal and/or IIdentity - it's sometimes a better extension point and since not everyone is aware of it it's often not used.

Answer 3

In the same way you define the standard .net membership:
<membership defaultProvider="MyCustomMembershipProvider" userIsOnlineTimeWindow="30">
<providers>
<clear />
<add name="MyCustomMembershipProvider" type="Namespace.MyCustomMembershipProvider" connectionStringName="db_ConnectionString" enablePasswordRetrieval="true" enablePasswordReset="true" requiresQuestionAndAnswer="true" requiresUniqueEmail="false" passwordFormat="Encrypted" maxInvalidPasswordAttempts="5" minRequiredPasswordLength="8" minRequiredNonalphanumericCharacters="0" passwordAttemptWindow="10" passwordStrengthRegularExpression="" applicationName="/" />
<add name="StandardMembershipProvider" type="System.Web.Security.SqlMembershipProvider, System.Web, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a" connectionStringName="db_ConnectionString" enablePasswordRetrieval="true" enablePasswordReset="true" requiresQuestionAndAnswer="false" requiresUniqueEmail="true" passwordFormat="Encrypted" maxInvalidPasswordAttempts="5" minRequiredPasswordLength="8" minRequiredNonalphanumericCharacters="0" passwordAttemptWindow="10" passwordStrengthRegularExpression="" applicationName="/" />
</providers>
</membership>