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Custom User Implementation for Blazor Server App

A guide to intergrate custom user authendication on blazor server apps, with safe user data read/write access,

by Andreas Michelis

Notes:

  • The notation %some_text% indicate placeholders of results that vary from user to user.

  • The notation [!some_text!] indicate placeholders that are special to each user and should be filled by them.

  • Also, tell Ellie you love her 'cause she is insecure

  • Also, I am going to guess my birthday present.

Step 1: Project creation and cleanup

Starting our journey, the first step is to create a new Blazor Server App for .NET 5.0, https enabled and with Individual Accounts as User authendication method

Since the default template for Blazor Server Apps contains a few examples, we made sure to delete all extra pages/components/classes that are not of use -in order to maintain a clean solution-, leaving only the following behind:

If exists, do not delete Migrations folder and its contents, as we will remove it safely later.

  • Root folder

    • _Imports.razor
    • App.razor
    • appsettings.json
    • Program.cs
    • Startup.cs (edited)

  • Pages folder

    • Index.razor (edited)
    • _Host.chtml
    • Error.chtml

  • Shared folder

    • LoginDisplay.razor
    • MainLayout.razor (edited)
    • NavMenu.razor (edited)

  • Data folder

    • ApplicationDbContext.cs

  • Areas folder : Left untouched

  • wwwroot folder : Left untouched

  • Properties folder : Left untouched

Any database Migrations pre-applied to the project must be removed using the Package Manager console

with the following command:

Remove-Migration

that should yeld one of the following results:

Removing migration '%Identity_Schema_Class_Name%'.
Removing model snapshot.
Done.

or

Build started...
Build succeeded.
No ModelSnapshot was found.

Now, our project should be ready for further development.

Step 2: PosgreSQL Intergration and User Secrets setup

Since our app has a user-base, we need to use a Database in order to manage user data. Microsoft provides multiple database solution, from local to Azure cloud solutions.

PostgreSQL

In order to have a robust yet flexible Database solution with sufficient compatibility, we decided to use PostgreSQL database, SINCE It's a free, well supported option that can be "transplanted" on any device of our choice.

To do that, we removed the existing Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer Nuget Package, while adding Npgsql.EntityFrameworkCore.PostgreSQL and Npgsql.EntityFrameworkCore.PostgreSQL.Design (see images below)

Then, we changed Startup.cs to use PosgreSQL instead of SqlServer

/////////////////////////
// Before ///////////////
/////////////////////////
services.AddDbContext<ApplicationDbContext>(options =>
{
    options.UseSqlServer(Configuration.GetConnectionString("DefaultConnection"));
});

/////////////////////////
// After ////////////////
/////////////////////////
services.AddDbContext<ApplicationDbContext>(options =>
{
    options.UseNpgsql(Configuration.GetConnectionString("DefaultConnection"));
}

Lastly, on appsettings.json, we replace our DefaultConnection string to point to our PSQL Server, from

"ConnectionStrings": {
    "DefaultConnection": "Server=(localdb)\\mssqllocaldb;Database=aspnet-BrainstormArcive-AC6DE3B1-72DC-47D6-AE3C-CDA30871D5FB;Trusted_Connection=True;MultipleActiveResultSets=true"
},

to

"ConnectionStrings": {
    "DefaultConnection": "Server=[!host!];Port=[!port!];Database=[!database!];User Id=[!user!];Password=[!password!];"
},

User Secrets

If you're planning to create a project on your local machine without ever publishing the code online, the use of appsettings.json is sufficient enough. If, like this project, you're planning to distribute the code through repositories or any other online means, you can leverage the power of Visual Studio's "User Secrets".

Each Blazor App has a personal JSON "storage" that is located withing user's App Data folder -away from the project- and it's loaded automatically to the project. So, we stored our database credentials inside this file and removed our connection string from appsettings.json to keep it safe, offline but always available for development.

secrets.json

{
  "Secrets": {
    "Database": {
      "Host":             "[!host!]",
      "Port":             "[!port!]",
      "Database":         "[!database!]",
      "User":             "[!user!]",
      "Password":         "[!password!]",
      "ConnectionString": "Server=[!host!];Port=[!port!];Database=[!database!];User Id=[!user!];Password=[!password!];"
    }
  }
}

appsettings.json

Before :

{
  "ConnectionStrings": {
    "DefaultConnection": "Server=[!host!];Port=[!port!];Database=[!database!];User Id=[!user!];Password=[!password!];"
  },
  "Logging": {
    "LogLevel": {
      "Default": "Information",
      "Microsoft": "Warning",
      "Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime": "Information"
    }
  },
  "AllowedHosts": "*"
}

After

{
  "Logging": {
    "LogLevel": {
      "Default": "Information",
      "Microsoft": "Warning",
      "Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime": "Information"
    }
  },
  "AllowedHosts": "*"
}

Startup.sh

Before :

services.AddDbContext<ApplicationDbContext>(options =>
{
    options.UseNpgsql(Configuration.GetConnectionString("DefaultConnection"));
}

After

services.AddDbContext<ApplicationDbContext>(options =>
{
    options.UseNpgsql(Configuration["Secrets:Database:ConnectionString"]);
});

Finally

Since everything on step 2 was successful, we confirmed connection to our database by, once again using Package Manager Console and typing

PM> Add-Migration initial
-------------------------------------------
Build started...
Build succeeded.
To undo this action, use Remove-Migration.

PM> Update-Database
-------------------------------------------
Build started...
Build succeeded.
Done.