Question

How can I login programmatically into Sitecore?
For example if you would like to connect a small part of the Sitecore API to a desktop application, you would need to login into sitecore first to access the databases etc.

Can this be done?

Answer 1

As Mark said, you will need to create a web service that your desktop app will talk to. If you need to deal with permissions in that service you have two options.

1. Use a SecurityDisabler to make your webservice run in the context of an Admin user.

   using (new Sitecore.SecurityModel.SecurityDisabler())
   {
       // do stuff here
   }
   

2. For more specific control you can use a UserSwitcher.

   From the Security API Cookbook page 34

   string domainUser = @"domain\user"; 
   
   if (Sitecore.Security.Accounts.User.Exists(domainUser)) 
   { 
       Sitecore.Security.Accounts.User user = 
       Sitecore.Security.Accounts.User.FromName(domainUser,false); 
   
       using (new Sitecore.Security.Accounts.UserSwitcher(user)) 
       { 
           //TODO: code to invoke as user 
       } 
   }