ASP.NET/Roles

A role is a group of users who are uniqely identified by the set of privileges they are given. A typical website has three roles:

• Administrator
• Power User
• User

An administrator has all privileges over the particular site while power user and ordinary users don't have.

Creation of Roles

Roles can be created in various ways. The typical process of role creation involves using the Role Manager tag in Web.config

Example

<configuration>
  <connectionStrings>
    <add name="SqlServices" connectionString="Data Source=localhost;Initial Catalog=aspnetdb;Integrated Security=SSPI;" />
  </connectionStrings>

  <system.web>
    <authentication mode="Forms" >
      <forms loginUrl="login.aspx"
      name=".ASPXFORMSAUTH" />
    </authentication>

    <authorization>
      <deny users="?" />
      <allow roles="Administrators" />
      <deny users="*" />
    </authorization>

    <membership defaultProvider="AspNetSqlProvider" userIsOnlineTimeWindow="15">
    </membership>

    <roleManager defaultProvider="SqlProvider" 
      enabled="true"
      cacheRolesInCookie="true"
      cookieName=".ASPROLES"
      cookieTimeout="30"
      cookiePath="/"
      cookieRequireSSL="true"
      cookieSlidingExpiration="true"
      cookieProtection="All" >

      <providers>
        <clear />
        <add
          name="SqlProvider"
          type="System.Web.Security.SqlRoleProvider"
          connectionStringName="SqlServices"
          applicationName="SampleApplication" />
        </providers>

    </roleManager>
  </system.web>
</configuration>

Roles can also be assigned or modified programmatically using the Role class.

Using the Website Administration Tool

Roles can be created in .NET 2.0 using the ASP.NET Website Administration tool. This tool is available in the Solution Explorer toolbar.

The tool allows the user to change

• Security settings
• Application Configuration
• Provider Configuration

A few snapshots of the tool are availabe below. These snapshots are self-explanatory:

References

Role Class in C#, MSDN site