I am using Umbraco 4.0.3, Visual Studio 2005 + SP1, Windows Server 2003 R2.

In this post, I will ask questions about User Controls and Authentication.

User Controls:

I've looked around how to implement User Controls in Umbraco, and I am trying to find the easiest and most suitable way.

Here is the method I am following, and tell me if it is correct and if it will cause any problem in the future:

1. Create a separate Web Application Project (WebProject) to host the User Controls (UC) as a Library .

2. Create a solution with both Umbraco Website and WebProject in on VS Solution. If any other Class Libraries are required, just add them as Separate Project in same Solution. This is to save me from opening 2 or more instances of VS

3. Create the UC in WebProject, say uc1.ascx, test it there, and using copy/past to copy the 3 files: uc1.ascx to a special folder under umbraco web site "..\usercontrols\MyControls" , and uc1.ascx.designer.vb, and uc1.ascx.vb to "..\app_code" under Umbraco.

This way, I can start changing UC1.ascx in Umbraco Project directly.

4. As alternate to step 3 above, I can copy the source .ascx only, and copy the result dll to the bin folder of Umbraco.

With this method, every change I make, I have to copy the changes again to Umbraco. I think this is better approach. Right ?

5. Create the Macro to link uc1.ascx to Umbraco and add it to a content page.

I have tested the above methods, and they all work successfully.

Question:

1. Is the method above correct ?

2. Is there a method to copy automatcially the changes made to UC1.ascx directly after compile of "WebProject", and copy them to Umbraco folders ?

============

Authenitcation:

I created a User Control to deal with Integrated Windows Authentication for Members. I created a Login.aspx Document using Umbraco back-office with the User Control embedded (via Macro) to implement this feature.

So, to get the Currently logged-in Windows User ID (strUserID) I am using this method (inside Login.aspx/User Control/Page-Load):

Note: This is a function in MyLib.GetWindowsLoginWeb() 

Dim strUserID As String
With System.Web.HttpContext.Current
strUserID = .Request.ServerVariables("LOGON_USER")
If strUserID = "" Then
  .Response.StatusCode = 401
  .Response.StatusDescription = "Unauthorized"
  .Response.End()
Else
  Dim idx As Integer
  idx = strUserID.IndexOf("\")
  If idx >= 0 Then
    strUserID = strUserID.Substring(idx + 1)
  End if
End if
Return strUserID

 

 

 

 

For the first time, if the IIS Request to some Umbraco Document (page), which is getting the Windows LOGON_USER, is not authenticated (Integrated Windows Authentication), the request will be transfered to "Login.aspx" with a correct ReturnUrl QueryString value, only and only if the page is not Protected using Umbraco back-office.

But, for a Protected Page, and if the Request is not Authenticated as per Umbraco Members Membership Provider, it will be transfered to Login.aspx page, but there is no ReturnUrl Parameter ???? Instead, the URL " request.rawUrl() " will be the actual ReturnUrl.

It seems to me that Umbraco 4.0.3 has some issue with regards FormsAuthentication and ReturnUrl. Right ?

So, in order to deal with the above issue, I had to do exactly the following in Login.aspx Page, when the user click the "Login" button:   

 Protected Sub LoginButton_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button2.Click 
   Dim CurrUser As String
   Dim myRetURL As String
  CurrUser = MyLibrary.GetWindowsLoginIDWeb()
 
  FormsAuthentication.SetAuthCookie(CurrUser, 
True) 

  myRetURL = Request.QueryString("ReturnUrl")
 If String.IsNullOrEmpty(myRetURL) Then
     If Page.Request.RawUrl().ToLower.IndexOf("Login.aspx".ToLower) < 0  Then
 
          myRetURL = Request.RawUrl
 
        Else
          ' User click login button after he open "Login.aspx" page directly
          myRetURL = FormsAuthentication.DefaultUrl()
 
        End if
  End if
  Response.Redirect(Page.ResolveClientUrl(HttpUtility.UrlEncode(myRetURL)), True)
End Sub

The above method works fine in both cases:

1. If the request is not yet Authenticated from IIS under Intergrated Windows Authentication, and

2. If the request is not authenticate for an Umbraco Protected Page.

I just need to know if the above approach is correct.

Am I missing something ?

Is there a better method ?

Tarek.