Question

This is a continuation of my last question: “Internal Database – ASP.NET Auto Web Site Registration on User Creation”. I am running the following code. This is just a test block of code. It works but my problem is it creates the default SQLEXPRESS ASPNETDB.MDF in the App_Data Directory. This is not what I want.

// Create a MembershipCreateStatus Status for Reporting...
MembershipCreateStatus status = new MembershipCreateStatus();
// Setup SqlMembershipProvider for Initialization...
SqlMembershipProvider sqlProvider = new SqlMembershipProvider();
// Setup a NameValueCollection...
NameValueCollection config = new NameValueCollection();
// Set the Connection Name of the SQL Connection String...
string SQLDBNameString = "My Company Database.Properties.Settings.ConnectionString";
// Update the private connection string field in the base class. 
string connectionString = "Data Source=Server;Initial Catalog=’My Company Database';User ID=USERNAME;Password=PASSWORD";
// Username of the account to add...
string username = "User121";
// Generate a dynamic Password....
string password = Membership.GeneratePassword(8, 1);
// Email Address of the User...
string email = "[e-mail]";

try
{
    string Name = "My Company Database";

    config.Add("applicationName", "My Company Database");
    config.Add("maxInvalidPasswordAttempts", "5");
    config.Add("passwordAttemptWindow", "10");
    config.Add("minRequiredPasswordLength", "8");
    config.Add("passwordStrengthRegularExpression", "");
    config.Add("enablePasswordReset", "True");
    config.Add("enablePasswordRetrieval", "False");
    config.Add("requiresQuestionAndAnswer", "False");
    config.Add("requiresUniqueEmail", "True");
    config.Add("passwordFormat", "Hashed");
    config.Add("connectionStringName", SQLDBNameString);

    sqlProvider.Initialize(Name, config);

    ConnectionStringSettings ConnectionStringSettings = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings[SQLDBNameString];
    if ((ConnectionStringSettings == null) || (ConnectionStringSettings.ConnectionString.Trim() == String.Empty))
    {
        throw new Exception("Connection string cannot be blank.");
    }

    // connectionString = ConnectionStringSettings.ConnectionString;

    MembershipUser newUser = Membership.CreateUser(username, password, email, "Whats My Password", password, true, out status);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
    String message = "Error...\r\n\r\n" + ex.ToString();
    String caption = "Error";
    MessageBoxButtons button = MessageBoxButtons.OK;
    MessageBoxIcon icon = MessageBoxIcon.Asterisk;
    MessageBox.Show(message, caption, button, icon);
}

MessageBox.Show("Account Creation   : " + status.ToString() + "\r\n" 
              + "Username is        : " + username + "\r\n" 
              + "Password is        : " + password + "\r\n" 
              + "Email              : " + email);

This code is running in a C# Application, SQL Front end database and it is supposed to automatically create a user so they can login to a web page once I have added them to my database. This Code is not running in a ASP Website Application. My “config” is not being initalised from what I can see. Any help is much appreaciated!

Answer 1

Finally a solution that works through out my website and C# Internal Database.

A steep learning curve on my part. It is actually much simpler than I thought. Here is the Code that needs to go into the app.config file that needs to be in your C# Project:

<configuration>
<configSections>
</configSections>
<connectionStrings>
<add name="My Company Database.Properties.Settings.ConnectionString"
    connectionString="Data Source=Server;Initial Catalog='My Company Database';Persist Security Info=True;User ID=MyUserName;Password=MyPassword"
    providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
</connectionStrings>

<system.web>
<compilation debug="true" targetFramework="4.0" />

<authentication mode="Forms">
<forms loginUrl="~/Account/Login.aspx" timeout="2880" />
</authentication>

<membership>
<providers>
<clear/>
<add name="AspNetSqlMembershipProvider" type="System.Web.Security.SqlMembershipProvider" connectionStringName="My Company Database.Properties.Settings.ConnectionString"
         enablePasswordRetrieval="False" enablePasswordReset="true" requiresQuestionAndAnswer="false" requiresUniqueEmail="false"
         maxInvalidPasswordAttempts="5" minRequiredPasswordLength="6" minRequiredNonalphanumericCharacters="0" passwordAttemptWindow="10"
         applicationName="/" />
</providers>
</membership>

</system.web>

</configuration>

Here is the Code to use the default MembershipProvider():

// Create a MembershipCreateStatus Status for Reporting...
MembershipCreateStatus status = new MembershipCreateStatus();

// Username of the account to add...
string username = "User121";
// Generate a dynamic Password....
string password = "P@55W0Rd";
// Email Address of the User...
string email = "[e-mail]";
// Password Question of the User...
string passwordQuestion = "My Password Question?";
// Password Answer of the User...
string passwordAnswer = "My Password Answer!";

try
{
Membership.CreateUser(username, password, email, passwordQuestion, passwordAnswer, true, out status);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
    this.richTextBox1.Text = "Error...\r\n\r\n" + ex.ToString();
}

this.richTextBox1.Text = ("Account Creation   : " + status.ToString() + "\r\n"
                                + "Username is        : " + username + "\r\n"
                                + "Password is        : " + password + "\r\n"
                                + "Email              : " + email);

I did try to add a web.config the same as the ASP.NET Web Application but this failed. I did not even think of putting the configuration into app.config untill today. Funny how the brain works when trying to solve a problem.

Password Hashing and Salting is all handled by the default MembershipProvider Class that is built into .NET. No need to do any crazy Encoding Hashing and Salting.