Question

Is there a way to have simple windows authentication for a public facing site (anonymous viewing is enabled so as to view the login page) but insatead of it popping up the windows auth dialog, to use a login page (aspx). I saw something similar when i switched to mixed mode authentication. SharePoint has a dropdown with “windows authentication” or “forms authentication”. What i need is something similar, but just the “windows authentication” option.

I’ve seen similar questions on SO, but they all involve creating a custom login page. The ideal solution would involve no new pages and no coding.

Is this possible?

Answer 1

This could be done by launching the sharepoint page’s address in internet explorer, and using some pinvoke api to send keys or settext to the login box.

I fanagled this setup for a vb.net forms application. It works on my XP. I haven’t tried it in Windows 7 yet, but I’m sure it needs some adjustment for it to work there.

This uses a library called WindowScraper, from here: http://www.programmersheaven.com/download/56171/download.aspx

This library has a bunch of winapi and pinvoke built in. If your assembly won’t allow it (because you are using VS 2010, perhaps), saying it doesn’t have a strong name, then use SharpDevelop and rebuild the solution after adding your own certificate.

Then put the dll in your application directory and add a reference.

Then add the imports:

Imports WindowScrape
Imports WindowScrape.Constants
Imports WindowScrape.Types

Finally, the code (put all this in a module or class):

Private Property PortalAddress As String = “http://[e-mail]”
Private Property logintitle As String = “Connect to [e-mail]“

Public Sub openPortal()

If My.Computer.Info.OSFullName = "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" then 
    LoginToPortalXP()
Else
    msgbox("Someday, we will be able to log you in automatically" & vbCr & "But it isn't ready yet.")
End If
End Sub

Private Function IsWindowReady(Optional ByVal timeout As integer = 10000)
    Dim isready As Boolean = false
    Dim timer As Integer = 1000
    Do Until Not loginBox is nothing or timer = timeout
        Thread.Sleep(1000)
        loginbox = HwndObject.GetWindowByTitle(logintitle)
        timer = timer + 1000
    loop
    If Not loginbox is nothing then isready = true
    Return isready
End Function

Sub LoginToPortalXP()
    Try
        Dim TheBrowser As Object = CreateObject("InternetExplorer.Application")
        TheBrowser.Visible = True
        TheBrowser.Navigate(PortalAddress)
        If Not IsWindowReady then debug.print("failed") : Exit sub

        Dim sys As HwndObject = loginbox.GetChildren(1)   'SysCredential
        sys.GetChildren(1).Text = "myUserName"  'username box
        Thread.Sleep(500)
        sys.GetChildren(4).Text = "myPassword"   'password box
        Thread.Sleep(500)
        loginbox.GetChildren(2).Click()     'push the okay button
    Catch ex As Exception
        msgbox("ERROR AutoLogging into Portal: " & vbcr & & ex.Message)
    Finally        
    End Try
End Sub

I added the timer just in case it takes longer. You can change the timeout, of course.