OWIN cookie authentication without ASP.NET Identity

Question

I'm new to ASP.NET MVC 5 and I'm finding very uncomfortable with Identity authentication + authorization framework. I know this is a new feature of the ASP.NET MVC framework, so I'd like to apply an alternative way to implement authentication in m y application.

Is it possible? I read I could use the FormsAuthenticationModule. Is this a good alternative? How can I use it in a MVC 5 based application?

Answer 1

I felt the same way when taking a look at Identity. It adds lots of unnecessary abstractions and does not suit with my case that I have legacy system which implemented customised authentication work-flow.

Tons of examples out there about OWIN authentication using Identity and EF by default which makes developers confused that OWIN has to go with Identity and Entity Framework.

But technically, you are able to strip out Identity to use only OWIN cookie authentication (Microsoft.Owin.Security.Cookies). The code turns out very simple, below is example I got from my code which eliminates trivial things:

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Login(LoginViewModel model, string returnUrl)
{
    var user = _userService.GetByEmail(model.Email);

    //check username and password from database, naive checking: 
    //password should be in SHA
    if (user != null && (user.Password == model.Password)) 
    {
        var claims = new[] {
                new Claim(ClaimTypes.Name, user.Name),
                new Claim(ClaimTypes.Email, user.Email),
                // can add more claims
            };

        var identity = new ClaimsIdentity(claims, "ApplicationCookie");

        // Add roles into claims
        var roles = _roleService.GetByUserId(user.Id);
        if (roles.Any())
        {
            var roleClaims = roles.Select(r => new Claim(ClaimTypes.Role, r.Name));
            identity.AddClaims(roleClaims);
        }

        var context = Request.GetOwinContext();
        var authManager = context.Authentication;

        authManager.SignIn(new AuthenticationProperties 
               { IsPersistent = model.RememberMe }, identity);

        return RedirectToAction("Index", "Home");
    }
    // login failed.            
}

public ActionResult LogOut()
{
    var ctx = Request.GetOwinContext();
    var authManager = ctx.Authentication;

    authManager.SignOut("ApplicationCookie");
    return RedirectToAction("Login");
}

Answer 2

Without Using Owin Security Methods: Itz My Controller Coding

[HttpPost]
        [ValidateAntiForgeryToken]
        public ActionResult Login(Employee emp, string returnUrl)
           {
            using(AdaptiveProjectEntities db = new AdaptiveProjectEntities())
            {
                string email = emp.Email;
               // byte[] en = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(emp.Password);
                //var ee = Convert.ToBase64String(en);
                string pass = emp.Password;

                bool userValid = db.Employees.Any(user => user.Email == email && user.Password == pass);
                    if(userValid)
                    {
                        FormsAuthentication.SetAuthCookie(email, false);



                         if (Url.IsLocalUrl(returnUrl) && returnUrl.Length > 1 && returnUrl.StartsWith("/")
                    && !returnUrl.StartsWith("//") && !returnUrl.StartsWith("/\\"))
                {
                    return Redirect(returnUrl);
                }
                else
                {

                    return RedirectToAction("Index", "Projects");
                }
            }
            else
            {
                ModelState.AddModelError("", "The user name or password provided is incorrect.");
            }
                    }



            return View(emp); 

       }
        public ActionResult Logout()
        {
            FormsAuthentication.SignOut();
            return RedirectToAction("Login", "Login");
        }
    }
}

View:

<div class="container" style="margin-right:50%">
    <div class="row">
        <div class="col-md-12 col-md-offset-7" style="bottom:-250px">
           <div class="panel panel-default" style="margin-right:15%">
                <div class="panel-heading" style="padding-bottom:5%">

                    <center><h3 style="margin-right:80px">Login</h3></center>
                    @*</div>*@
                    @using (Html.BeginForm())
                    {
                        <div class="modal-body">

                            @Html.AntiForgeryToken()

                            <div class="form-horizontal" style="margin-right: 10%;">
                                @Html.ValidationSummary(true, "", new { @class = "text-danger" })


                                <div class="form-group">
                                    @Html.LabelFor(model => model.Email, htmlAttributes: new { @class = "control-label col-md-3" })
                                    <div class="col-md-9">
                                        @Html.EditorFor(model => model.Email, new { htmlAttributes = new { @class = "form-control", type = "email", required = "required" } })
                                        @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Email, "", new { @class = "text-danger" })
                                    </div>
                                </div>
                                <div class="form-group">
                                    @Html.LabelFor(model => model.Password, htmlAttributes: new { @class = "control-label col-md-3" })
                                    <div class="col-md-9">
                                        @Html.EditorFor(model => model.Password, new { htmlAttributes = new { @class = "form-control", type = "password", required = "required" } })
                                        @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Password, "", new { @class = "text-danger" })
                                    </div>
                                </div>

                            </div>
                            <div>
                                <input class="btn btn-primary pull-left col-lg-offset-1" type="submit" value="Login" style="margin-left:35%" />
                            </div>

                        </div>


                    }
                </div>
            </div>
        </div>
        </div>
    </div>
    </div>