MVC 3 - access for specific user only

Question

In my web application registered users can add new content and edit it later. I want only the content\'s author to be able to edit it. Is there any smart way of doing this o

Answer 1

I would:

1. Save the db.aspnet_Users columm UserId (Guid) against the content record
2. Write an extension method for your content model which verifies the current users Guid against the saved contents User Guid
3. I would write some code that overrides this functionality for your Admin logins (I would create an Admin Role).

Answer 2

Any attribute that I could use for the whole controller?

Yes, you could extend the Authorize attribute with a custom one:

public class AuthorizeAuthorAttribute : AuthorizeAttribute
{
    protected override bool AuthorizeCore(HttpContextBase httpContext)
    {
        var isAuthorized = base.AuthorizeCore(httpContext);
        if (!isAuthorized)
        {
            // the user is either not authenticated or
            // not in roles => no need to continue any further
            return false;
        }

        // get the currently logged on user
        var username = httpContext.User.Identity.Name;

        // get the id of the article that he is trying to manipulate
        // from the route data (this assumes that the id is passed as a route
        // data parameter: /foo/edit/123). If this is not the case and you 
        // are using query string parameters you could fetch the id using the Request
        var id = httpContext.Request.RequestContext.RouteData.Values["id"] as string;

        // Now that we have the current user and the id of the article he
        // is trying to manipualte all that's left is go ahead and look in 
        // our database to see if this user is the owner of the article
        return IsUserOwnerOfArticle(username, id);
    }

    private bool IsUserOwnerOfArticle(string username, string articleId)
    {
        throw new NotImplementedException();
    }
}

and then:

[HttpPost]
[AuthorizeAuthor]
public ActionResult Edit(int id)
{
    ... perform the edit
}