C# 4 and .NET 4

security ❘ 1201
You are currently logged in as
.
code snippet PCSDemoSite/MasterPage.master
The only point to note here is that CSS classes are supplied for both SiteMapPath and TreeView, to
facilitate theming (discussed later in this chapter).
seCuriTy
Security and user management have often been seen as quite complicated to implement in web sites, and
with good reason. You have to consider a number of factors, including:
➤
➤
➤
➤
➤
What sort of user management system will I implement Will users map to Windows user accounts, or
will I implement something independent
How do I implement a login system
Do I let users register on the site; if so, how
How do I let some users see and do only some things, while supplying other users with additional
privileges
What happens in the case of forgotten passwords
With ASP.NET, you have a whole suite of tools at your disposal for dealing with questions such as these,
and it can in fact take only a matter of minutes to implement a user system on your site. You have three
types of authentication at your disposal:
➤
➤
➤
Windows Authentication, whereby users have Windows accounts, typically used with intranet sites or
Wide Area Network (WAN) portals
Forms Authentication, whereby the web site maintains its own list of users and handles its own
authentication
Microsoft Live ID Authentication (formerly known as Passport authentication), whereby Microsoft
provides a centralized authentication service for you to use
A full discussion of security in ASP.NET would take up at least a full chapter, but we provide a brief look in
this section to give you an idea of how things work. You concentrate on Forms Authentication here, because
it is the most versatile system and very quick to get up and running.
The quickest way to implement Forms Authentication is via the web site ASP.NET Configuration tool, which
you saw briefly in the previous chapter. This tool has a Security tab, and on it a Security Setup Wizard. This
wizard lets you choose an authentication type, add roles, add users, and secure areas of your site.
adding forms authentication using the security setup Wizard
For the purposes of this explanation, create a new empty web site called PCSAuthenticationDemo in the
directory C:\ProCSharp\Chapter41\. After you create the site, configure security using the following
example steps:
1. Open the web site ASP.NET Configuration tool.
2. Navigate to the Security tab.
www.it-ebooks.info