Build filters on entities based on ASP.NET MVC 5 Identity User

Question

I have a survey's platform with all the score of a list of stores.

I need to make available to each user, the stores based in his location's area (region).

I use Microsoft Identity in my MVC project and I found only two aproaches for this:

1- Build a profile for each region, so I can filter based on the logged user's profile name - dbContext.Where(location == profileName)

2- Extend the ApplicationUser to include the region, so I can filter using dbContext.Where(location == User.Identity.GetLocation())

Or any other option?

I have been able to implement the second option:

Stores Model:

public enum PTLocationDistrict
{
    [Display(Name = "Aveiro")]
    Aveiro = 1,
    [Display(Name = "Beja")]
    Beja = 2,
    [Display(Name = "Braga")]
    Braga = 3
}

[Table("Stores")]
public class Store
{
    [Key]
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public DateTime DateCreated { get; set; }
    public DateTime DateModified { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public string Address { get; set; }
    public PTLocationDistrict District { get; set; }
}

Identity ApplicationUser:

public class ApplicationUser : IdentityUser
{
    public async Task<ClaimsIdentity> GenerateUserIdentityAsync(UserManager<ApplicationUser> manager)
    {
        // Note the authenticationType must match the one defined in CookieAuthenticationOptions.AuthenticationType
        var userIdentity = await manager.CreateIdentityAsync(this, DefaultAuthenticationTypes.ApplicationCookie);

        // Add custom user claims here
        userIdentity.AddClaim(new Claim("PTLocationDistrict", this.PTLocationDistrict.ToString()));

        return userIdentity;
    }

    // Additional properties for the Application User
    public PTLocationDistrict? PTLocationDistrict { get; set; }
}

Identity Services:

   public static PTLocationDistrict? GetPTLocationDistrict(this IIdentity identity)
    {
        Claim claim = ((ClaimsIdentity)identity).FindFirst("PTLocationDistrict");

        PTLocationDistrict value;

        if (claim == null)
        {
            return null;
        }
        else if (Enum.TryParse(claim.Value, out value))
        {
            return value;
        }
        else
        {

            return null;
        }
    }

Dashboard Report Count Service:

public int GetCountToday(PTLocationDistrict? ptLocationDistrict)
{
    try
    {
        var today = DateTime.Today;

        IQueryable<SurveySession> surveySessions = _dbContext.SurveySessions.AsNoTracking().AsQueryable();

        if (ptLocationDistrict != null)
        {
            surveySessions = surveySessions.Where(ss => ss.Location.District == ptLocationDistrict.Value);
        }

        int count = surveySessions
                            .Where(p => p.DateCreated >= today)
                            .Count();

        return count;
    }
    catch (Exception error)
    {
        _logger.Error("[Error in SurveyService.GetCountToday" - Error: " + error + "]");

        return 0;
    }
}

Controller Action:

public virtual ActionResult Index()
{
    IndexViewModel model = new IndexViewModel();
    PTLocationDistrict? ptLocationDistrict = User.Identity.GetPTLocationDistrict();

    // Realizados Hoje
    model.SurveyCountToday = _surveyService.GetCountToday(ptLocationDistrict);

}

Answer 1

It seems that the information is not used for Identity (denying access based on location). So in case you have a 'Person' table, you can store the location there, outside the Identity Model, and use this table in a join on the location field.

If not, I would simply add a claim with the location. The advantage is that you can read the claim without having to lookup the field from the database. You can use User.Identity.GetLocation(), assuming this is an extension that reads the claim containing the Location.

You can extend the IdentityUser with a field Location and add a claim, based on the field. But you don't have to if you add a claim to the AspNetUserClaims table, since it is not likeley to change. In that case the claim is automatically added to the identity.

Please note that the value of a claim is updated only if the user logs out and logs in again, or the token is expired.

-- update --

You can create a CustomClaimType, something like this:

public const string LocationClaimType = "https://schemas.mycompany.com/claims/location";

It doesn't really matter, as long as it can uniquely identify the claim.

There isn't much to tell about the AspNetUserClaims table. Insert a record where claimtype is your custom claimtype and set the value for the specific user. And it is automatically added to the identity. You can also add claims to a user with code.

In your controller:

var identity = (System.Security.Claims.ClaimsIdentity)User.Identity;
var res = identity.Claims.FirstOrDefault(c => c.ValueType == LocationClaimType)?.Value;

You can extend Identity (with GetLocation) with code like above. You can do the same thing for CompanyId.

In both cases the properties aren't likely to change and you won't need to call the database to get this additional information.