Sharing Users, but not roles between Applications

[Francis Reed]

Hi

I'm currently developping a University portal that uses single sign on
between multiple applications, and I would like to store my users in one
application and share them with other applications while keeping the roles
unique per application. For our portal, all our users would go in an
application called "UniversityPort al", and roles would be created in each
course application. Here's an example illustrating our proposed structure.

Applications Roles

UniversityPorta l Application (Administrators , Editors, ...)
Chemistry Application (Students, Teachers, ...)
Religion Application (Students, Teachers, ...)
Math Application (Students, Teachers, ...)

I've noticed that when I call SqlRoleProvider .AddUsersToRole s("francis",
Students") from within the Chemistry Application, and then from the Religion
Application new records get added to the Users table each with a unique user
ID. Why is this, and is there a way to prevent this duplication of user data?
Also does this mean if a user wants to change his password, does he have to
do it for every application? I would really appreciate any feedback or advice
that could help me out.

Cheers
Francis

[Peter Bromberg [C# MVP]]

Aside from the fact that it's usually not a good idea to mix Chemistry with
Religion anyway, probably the cleanest was to handle this is to override the
SqlRoleProvider class with custom methods that accept an applicationID, and
pass this concept through to the stored procedures, which can be easily
modified.
Peter

--
Co-founder, Eggheadcafe.com developer portal:
http://www.eggheadcafe.com
UnBlog:
http://petesbloggerama.blogspot.com


"Francis Reed" wrote:

Hi

I'm currently developping a University portal that uses single sign on
between multiple applications, and I would like to store my users in one
application and share them with other applications while keeping the roles
unique per application. For our portal, all our users would go in an
application called "UniversityPort al", and roles would be created in each
course application. Here's an example illustrating our proposed structure.

Applications Roles

UniversityPorta l Application (Administrators , Editors, ...)
Chemistry Application (Students, Teachers, ...)
Religion Application (Students, Teachers, ...)
Math Application (Students, Teachers, ...)

I've noticed that when I call SqlRoleProvider .AddUsersToRole s("francis",
Students") from within the Chemistry Application, and then from the Religion
Application new records get added to the Users table each with a unique user
ID. Why is this, and is there a way to prevent this duplication of user data?
Also does this mean if a user wants to change his password, does he have to
do it for every application? I would really appreciate any feedback or advice
that could help me out.

Cheers
Francis

[Francis Reed]

Hi Peter

That's a great idea which will work very well in my situation. I decided to
derived from the SqlRoleProvider as shown below.

public class EconcordiaSqlRo leProvider : SqlRoleProvider
{
public EconcordiaSqlRo leProvider () : base()
{
}
}

I have a quick question concerning the SqlRoleProvider . Where is the
SqlConnection, ConnectionStrin g, or ConnectionStrin gName stored in the
SqlRoleProvider instance? I want to use that connection for my custom methods
which accept the applicationID. If you can help me out or give any advice, I
would really appreciate it.

Cheers
Francis

"Peter Bromberg [C# MVP]" wrote:

Aside from the fact that it's usually not a good idea to mix Chemistry with
Religion anyway, probably the cleanest was to handle this is to override the
SqlRoleProvider class with custom methods that accept an applicationID, and
pass this concept through to the stored procedures, which can be easily
modified.
Peter

--
Co-founder, Eggheadcafe.com developer portal:
http://www.eggheadcafe.com
UnBlog:
http://petesbloggerama.blogspot.com

[Peter Bromberg [C# MVP]]

<!-- membership provider -->
<roleManager enabled="true" cacheRolesInCoo kie="true"
createPersisten tCookie="true" >
<providers>
<remove name="DefaultRo leProvider" />
<add applicationName ="/" connectionStrin gName="LocalSql Server"
name="DefaultRo leProvider"
type="System.We b.Security.SqlR oleProvider" />
</providers>
</roleManager>

-- the provider name and type would be replaced with your custom provider
name and namespace/class names.

Peter

--
Co-founder, Eggheadcafe.com developer portal:
http://www.eggheadcafe.com
UnBlog:
http://petesbloggerama.blogspot.com


"Francis Reed" wrote:

Hi Peter

That's a great idea which will work very well in my situation. I decided to
derived from the SqlRoleProvider as shown below.

public class EconcordiaSqlRo leProvider : SqlRoleProvider
{
public EconcordiaSqlRo leProvider () : base()
{
}
}

I have a quick question concerning the SqlRoleProvider . Where is the
SqlConnection, ConnectionStrin g, or ConnectionStrin gName stored in the
SqlRoleProvider instance? I want to use that connection for my custom methods
which accept the applicationID. If you can help me out or give any advice, I
would really appreciate it.

Cheers
Francis

"Peter Bromberg [C# MVP]" wrote:

Aside from the fact that it's usually not a good idea to mix Chemistry with
Religion anyway, probably the cleanest was to handle this is to override the
SqlRoleProvider class with custom methods that accept an applicationID, and
pass this concept through to the stored procedures, which can be easily
modified.
Peter

--
Co-founder, Eggheadcafe.com developer portal:
http://www.eggheadcafe.com
UnBlog:
http://petesbloggerama.blogspot.com

[Francis Reed]

I have the following

<roleManager enabled="true">
<providers>
<clear />
<add
name="AspNetSql RoleProvider"
type="Econcordi aSqlRoleProvide r, Econcordia, Version=1.0.0.0 ,
Culture=neutral , PublicKeyToken= null"
connectionStrin gName="LocalSql Server"
applicationName ="/UniversityAppli cation"
/>
</providers>
</roleManager>

which is working good in the web.config, but my question was more about the
c# SqlRoleProvider class members. I don't see a member that contains the
connectionStrin g. Like in the following.

public class EconcordiaSqlRo leProvider : SqlRoleProvider
{
public EconcordiaSqlRo leProvider () : base()
{
}

public string[] myMethod()
{
SqlConnection c = new SqlConnection(t his._connection String);
...
}
}

Where this._connectio nString is a member from the inherited SqlRoleProvider
class. Do I have to code the this._connectio nString myself, or is it
inherited somehow from the SqlRoleProvider class?

Cheers
Francis

"Peter Bromberg [C# MVP]" wrote:

<!-- membership provider -->
<roleManager enabled="true" cacheRolesInCoo kie="true"
createPersisten tCookie="true" >
<providers>
<remove name="DefaultRo leProvider" />
<add applicationName ="/" connectionStrin gName="LocalSql Server"
name="DefaultRo leProvider"
type="System.We b.Security.SqlR oleProvider" />
</providers>
</roleManager>

-- the provider name and type would be replaced with your custom provider
name and namespace/class names.

Peter

--
Co-founder, Eggheadcafe.com developer portal:
http://www.eggheadcafe.com
UnBlog:
http://petesbloggerama.blogspot.com


"Francis Reed" wrote:

Hi Peter

That's a great idea which will work very well in my situation. I decided to
derived from the SqlRoleProvider as shown below.

public class EconcordiaSqlRo leProvider : SqlRoleProvider
{
public EconcordiaSqlRo leProvider () : base()
{
}
}

I have a quick question concerning the SqlRoleProvider . Where is the
SqlConnection, ConnectionStrin g, or ConnectionStrin gName stored in the
SqlRoleProvider instance? I want to use that connection for my custom methods
which accept the applicationID. If you can help me out or give any advice, I
would really appreciate it.

Cheers
Francis

"Peter Bromberg [C# MVP]" wrote:

Aside from the fact that it's usually not a good idea to mix Chemistry with
Religion anyway, probably the cleanest was to handle this is to override the
SqlRoleProvider class with custom methods that accept an applicationID, and
pass this concept through to the stored procedures, which can be easily
modified.
Peter

--
Co-founder, Eggheadcafe.com developer portal:
http://www.eggheadcafe.com
UnBlog:
http://petesbloggerama.blogspot.com