integrating Sitefinity 4 with SalesLogix

Hello,

I am evaluating Sitefinity 4 and will need to connect to a SalesLogix backend which contains all of our user information.  Is there a way to customize the Sitefinity Login/Register functionality to access the SalesLogix database so you would not have to have two sets of user info (one in the Sitefinity database and one in the SalesLogix database) ?

thanks
Dan

Hi Dan,

You need to implement a custom membership provider that inherits from MembershipDataProvider class and represent your SalesLigix users as Sitefinity's Security.Model.User object. Then you have to associate these users with roles in Sitefinity.

Best wishes,
Ivan Dimitrov
the Telerik team

Hello Ivan,

I have implemented the code you provided and added and enabled the new customer provider as demonstrated in this screen shot from another thread:

www.sitefinity.com/.../231376_membershipsetup.png

However, when I go to the users page as shown in the video you provided in the other thread, I am not given the option of choosing my new provider. In your video, you see "All Providers Default MembershipProviderCustom" above "Create User".  I do not see that.

Am I missing a step somewhere?

Thanks!
Dan

Hello Dan,

Could you try to restart the application by making a dummy change in the web.config and see whether the provider will appear. Also make sure that you are using the correct type to register the provider.

Best wishes,
Ivan Dimitrov
the Telerik team

Hi Ivan,

The code you provided is working now (doing a dummy update to web.config worked).

The next question I have is am I going to have to actually create a user in Sitefinity based on the SalesLogix user.  By doing so I would be having to store two sets of user information. For example:

var manager = UserManager.GetManager();
var q = manager.GetUsers().Where(us => us.UserName == "somesalesLogixUser").SingleOrDefault();
            if (q == null)
           
                var u = manager.CreateUser("somesalesLogixUser");
                manager.SaveChanges();
                list.Add(u);
                return list.AsQueryable<User>();
           

Or could I do something similar to the following:

 m_SLXDataAdapter.SelectCommand = new SqlCommand("select * from contact where email = 'dmartin@jpg.com'  and importsource is NULL", m_SLXConnectionString);
            nFillErr = m_SLXDataAdapter.Fill(m_SLXDataSet);

            m_SLXDataTable = m_SLXDataSet.Tables[0];
            User myUser = new User();
            if (m_SLXDataTable.Rows.Count > 0)
           
                DataRow SLXDataRow = m_SLXDataTable.Rows[0];

                myUser.Email = SLXDataRow["EMAIL"].ToString();
                myUser.FirstName = SLXDataRow["FIRSTNAME"].ToString();
                myUser.LastName = SLXDataRow["LASTNAME"].ToString();
                myUser.LastLoginDate = new DateTime();
                myUser.Id = new Guid("965e389c-c3f9-4fed-8ff3-87a98b3e7ac7");
                myUser.UserName = SLXDataRow["EMAIL"].ToString();
          
            List<User> list = new List<User>(1);
            list.Add(myUser);

thanks
Dan
          






I am able to get "user" information from our SalesLogix database, but I am having issues creating a User object. 


thanks
Dan

Hi Dan,

There is no problem to use SQL queries to your database to get or create the users. Actually you only need to get the object from your database and return it as a Security.Model.User.

Note that GetUsers() loads all users into the memory and if you have many users you should consider a way to filter them.

Greetings,
Ivan Dimitrov
the Telerik team

Hi Ivan,

I am having trouble converting the user information from our SalesLogix database into a Security.Model.User object.

I tried the create a Security.Model.User object using the following code but I am not able to set certain fields such as username.  Is there another way I need to go about creating a Security.Model.User object?

m_SLXDataTable = m_SLXDataSet.Tables[0];
            User myUser = new User();
            if (m_SLXDataTable.Rows.Count > 0)
           
                DataRow SLXDataRow = m_SLXDataTable.Rows[0];

                myUser.Email = SLXDataRow["EMAIL"].ToString();
                myUser.FirstName = SLXDataRow["FIRSTNAME"].ToString();
                myUser.LastName = SLXDataRow["LASTNAME"].ToString();
                myUser.LastLoginDate = new DateTime();
                myUser.Id = new Guid("965e389c-c3f9-4fed-8ff3-87a98b3e7ac7");
       
           

thanks
Dan

Hello Dan,

The user should have a username. If you do not have such a column in your database try using the FirstName.

Best wishes,
Ivan Dimitrov
the Telerik team

hi Ivan,

My issue was that I was unable to set the username property directly as it is read only....I did not notice the setusername method.

Now I am getting a "Null object error"....I believe because the user Provider property is not set.  It is read only and I do not see a set method for it.  How should I go about setting the user Provider property?

thanks
Dan

Hello Dan,

Could you show the stack trace of the error and the code you are using? Where actually it fails?

All the best,
Ivan Dimitrov
the Telerik team

hi Ivan,

Below is the code I am using (the exception is thrown after the function returns).  When running the sample website, I select "Go To Sitefinity Adminstration" and then select my custom provider when logging in.  The exception is thrown during the login process.  Also when I look at the myUser object in debug mode I see the following exception assigned to the Provider property:

Provider='((Telerik.Sitefinity.Security.Model.User)((new System.Collections.Generic.Mscorlib_CollectionDebugView<Telerik.Sitefinity.Security.Model.User>(list)).Items[0])).ProviderName' threw an exce...

Alternatively, if I login with the Default provider and then go to user management and select my custom provider, a "null object message" is displayed on the screen.


 code below

  public override IQueryable<Telerik.Sitefinity.Security.Model.User> GetUsers()
                              
                User myUser = new User();

                myUser.Email = "test@jpg.com";
                myUser.FirstName = "John";
                myUser.LastName = "Smith";
                myUser.LastLoginDate = new DateTime();
                myUser.Id = new Guid("965e389c-c3f9-4fed-8ff3-87a98b3e7ac7");
                myUser.SetUserName("test123");
                myUser.SetCreationDate(new DateTime());
                myUser.ApplicationName = "Backend/";
                List<User> list = new List<User>(1);
               
                list.Add(myUser);
                return list.AsQueryable<User>();
          

------------------------------------------------------------
Below is the stack trace:

[NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.]
   DynamicModule.ns.Wrapped_MembershipDataProviderCustom_4cc842b20c284db5bca3de91eace067c.Clone() +225
   Telerik.Sitefinity.Data.ManagerBase`1.SetProvider(String providerName, String transactionName) +674
   Telerik.Sitefinity.Data.ManagerBase`1..ctor(String providerName, String transactionName) +249
   Telerik.Sitefinity.Security.UserManager..ctor(String providerName, String transactionName) +39

[TargetInvocationException: Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation.]
   System.RuntimeMethodHandle._InvokeConstructor(IRuntimeMethodInfo method, Object[] args, SignatureStruct& signature, RuntimeType declaringType) +0
   System.RuntimeMethodHandle.InvokeConstructor(IRuntimeMethodInfo method, Object[] args, SignatureStruct signature, RuntimeType declaringType) +15
   System.Reflection.RuntimeConstructorInfo.Invoke(BindingFlags invokeAttr, Binder binder, Object[] parameters, CultureInfo culture) +281
   System.Reflection.ConstructorInfo.Invoke(Object[] parameters) +17
   Telerik.Sitefinity.Data.ManagerBase`1.GetManager(String providerName, String transactionName) +1323
   Telerik.Sitefinity.Security.UserManager.GetManager(String providerName, String transactionName) +41
   Telerik.Sitefinity.Security.SecurityManager.AuthenticateUser(String membershipProviderName, String userName, String password, Boolean persistent, User& user) +70
   Telerik.Sitefinity.Security.Web.UI.LoginForm.LoginForm_Authenticate(Object sender, AuthenticateEventArgs e) +189
   System.Web.UI.WebControls.Login.OnAuthenticate(AuthenticateEventArgs e) +115
   System.Web.UI.WebControls.Login.AttemptLogin() +127
   System.Web.UI.WebControls.Login.OnBubbleEvent(Object source, EventArgs e) +101
   System.Web.UI.Control.RaiseBubbleEvent(Object source, EventArgs args) +37
   System.Web.UI.WebControls.LinkButton.OnCommand(CommandEventArgs e) +125
   System.Web.UI.WebControls.LinkButton.RaisePostBackEvent(String eventArgument) +169
   System.Web.UI.WebControls.LinkButton.System.Web.UI.IPostBackEventHandler.RaisePostBackEvent(String eventArgument) +9
   System.Web.UI.Page.RaisePostBackEvent(IPostBackEventHandler sourceControl, String eventArgument) +13
   System.Web.UI.Page.RaisePostBackEvent(NameValueCollection postData) +176
   System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint) +5563
--------------------------------------------

Lastly, As a test, I changed to the code below and still get the exception thrown when trying to login 
with the customer provider:

  public override IQueryable<Telerik.Sitefinity.Security.Model.User> GetUsers()
        
 	var manager = UserManager.GetManager();
 	List<User> list = new List<User>(1);
 	list.AddRange(manager.GetUsers());
	return list.AsQueryable<User>();
        

thanks
Dan

Hi Dan,

There was a bug in our code that was casing the issue. I fixed the issue earlier today. The fix will be included in the Friday's build.

All the best,
Ivan Dimitrov
the Telerik team

Hi Ivan,

I am still seeing the issue with build 4.0.1141.0.  Any idea when this is going to fixed.

thanks
Dan

Hi Dan,

I checked the code today with custom provider and I am not able to replicate this issue anymore. Also when you create a user you should create a ManagerInfo object for the user

hi Ivan,

Your code was helpful.  Looks like the missing piece was the ManagerInfo object.

Thanks!
Dan