Forms-based authentication combined with ASP.NET 2.0's Membership and
Roles systems makes creating and managing user accounts incredibly easy. I continue to be amazed at how
the login-related Web controls encapsulate the array
of tasks that I had always had to code by hand in classic ASP.
To help administer users, roles, and authorization settings, ASP.NET 2.0 includes the Web
Site Administration Tool (WSAT). WSAT is available from the Visual Studio 2005 Website menu via the ASP.NET Configuration
menu option. Launching the WSAT from Visual Studio, however, allows only local websites to be administered.
Such restrictions are limiting when hosting a website remotely with a web hosting company. (Granted, the WSAT's files
are available in the %WINDOWS%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\ASP.NETWebAdminFiles folder and can be
deployed from there.)
Rather than move the existing WSAT tool to my remote host, I decided to build my own WSAT-like tool from the ground up.
My version duplicates all features inside the Security section of the WSAT and adds a useful "Access Rules Summary" view
of the website security as applied to any given user or role. The complete code can be downloaded from the end of this
article and added to your site within a matter of minutes. This article provides an overview of my custom WSAT implementation
and explores the user list and add and edit user pages in detail. A future article will explore the role management
and access rules sections in detail. Read on to learn more!
Read More >