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Setting Up a .NET MVC App with Identity User Authentication – How To

In this tutorial, we’ll walk you through the steps of creating a.NET MVC (Model-View-Controller) application from scratch. MVC is a popular architectural pattern for developing web applications that offers an organised approach to separating concerns and managing application logic.

Step 1: Create a New MVC Project

Start by launching Visual Studio and creating a new project. If you don’t already have it, you can download it here.

  1. Open Visual Studio.
  2. Go to File > New > Project.
  3. Choose ASP.NET Web Application.
  4. Select MVC as the project template.
  5. Click Create to generate the project structure.

Step 2: Install Entity Framework Core

Entity Framework Core is an Object-Relational Mapper (ORM) that makes database interactions easier in.NET applications. Here’s how you install it:

  1. Open the NuGet Package Manager Console.
  2. Run the below commands:
Install-Package Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer
Install-Package Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Tools

Step 3: Set Up Identity for User Authentication

Now let’s add Identity to our MVC application to manage user authentication and authorization.

Step 3.1: Install Identity Framework

Identity is a membership system that integrates user authentication and authorization features in your application. Install it via the NuGet Package Manager Console:

Install-Package Microsoft.AspNetCore.Identity.EntityFrameworkCore

Step 3.2: Create Database Context

Create a class that inherits from IdentityDbContext to represent the application’s database context. This class defines the tables used by Identity.

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Identity.EntityFrameworkCore;
using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;

public class ApplicationDbContext : IdentityDbContext<ApplicationUser>
{
    public ApplicationDbContext(DbContextOptions<ApplicationDbContext> options)
        : base(options)
    {
    }
}

Step 3.3: Configure Identity Services

In the Program.cs file, configure Identity services by adding the necessary services to the service container.

builder.Services.AddDbContext<ApplicationDbContext>(options =>
    options.UseSqlServer(connectionString));

builder.Services.AddDefaultIdentity<IdentityUser>(options => options.SignIn.RequireConfirmedAccount = true)
    .AddEntityFrameworkStores<ApplicationDbContext>();

Step 3.4: Set Up User Model

Create a class that represents the user model. This class should inherit from IdentityUser.

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Identity;

public class ApplicationUser : IdentityUser
{
    // Additional properties if needed
}

Step 4: Apply Migrations

Use Entity Framework migrations to create the necessary database schema for Identity.

dotnet ef migrations add InitialCreate
dotnet ef database update

Step 5: Configure Authentication

In the Program.cs, just above app.Run(); add the authentication middleware.

app.UseAuthentication();
app.UseAuthorization();

Step 6: Create Views and Controllers

Create views and controllers for user registration, login, logout, and other authentication related actions as needed.

Step 7: Secure Controller Actions

Use the [Authorise] attribute to safeguard controller operations that need authentication.

You have successfully configured a.NET MVC application with Identity user authentication. You can now register users, authenticate them, and restrict access to different portions of your application based on their responsibilities. Feel free to tailor the setup and UI to your application’s needs. if you enjoyed this article why not check out similar articles.

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