Harinadh

Permanent Login Session in ASP.NET using Forms Authentication

2014-10-17T16:03:00.001+05:30

The configuration of form authentication resides in web.config file which has the following configuration-file fragment with the assigned values.

<authentication mode="Forms">
      <forms loginUrl="LogIn.aspx" 
             protection="All"
             timeout="1"
             name=".USERLOGINAUTH"
             path="/"
             requireSSL="false"
             slidingExpiration="true"
             defaultUrl="Default.aspx"
             cookieless="UseDeviceProfile"/>
</authentication>

Properties described below

Property	Description	Default Value
loginUrl	`P`oints to your application's custom logon page.
`protection`	Gets or sets the encryption type used to encrypt the cookie. This causes the cookie to be encrypted using the algorithm specified on the `machineKey` element, and to be signed using the hashing algorithm that is also specified on the `machineKey` element.	All
timeout	Used to specify a limited lifetime for the forms authentication session. The default value is 30 minutes. If a persistent forms authentication cookie is issued, the `timeout` attribute is also used to set the lifetime of the persistent cookie.	30
name	Gets or sets the cookie name.	.ASPXAUTH
path	Gets or sets the cookie path.	/
requireSSL	Gets or sets a value indicating whether a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) connection is required when transmitting authentication information. If you are concerned about session hijacking, you should consider setting `requireSSL` to `true`.	false
slidingExpiration	When the SlidingExpiration is set to true, the time interval during which the authentication cookie is valid is reset to the expiration Timeout property value. This happens if the user browses after half of the timeout has expired. For example, if you set an expiration of 20 minutes by using sliding expiration, a user can visit the site at 2:00 PM and receive a cookie that is set to expire at 2:20 PM. The expiration is only updated if the user visits the site after 2:10 PM. If the user visits the site at 2:09 PM, the cookie is not updated because half of the expiration time has not passed. If the user then waits 12 minutes, visiting the site at 2:21 PM, the cookie will be expired.	true
defaultUrl	The URL to which to redirect the request after authentication.	default.aspx
cookieless	The Cookieless property defines whether forms-based authentication should use a cookie to exchange user information.	UseDeviceProfile

Create authentication ticket while login

Below code is used in login page or control on the click of login button. This function validates the login of the user and then add a permanent form authentication ticket to the browser.

FormsAuthenticationTicket ticket = new FormsAuthenticationTicket(
      1,
      Username,
      DateTime.Now,
      DateTime.MaxValue,
      true,
      Password,
      FormsAuthentication.FormsCookiePath);

// Encrypt the cookie using the machine key for secure transport
string encUserAuthTicket = FormsAuthentication.Encrypt(ticket);
HttpCookie cookie = new HttpCookie(FormsAuthentication.FormsCookieName, encUserAuthTicket); // Hashed ticket

// Set the cookie's expiration time to the tickets expiration time
if (ticket.IsPersistent) cookie.Expires = ticket.Expiration;

// Add the cookie to the list for outgoing response
context.Response.Cookies.Add(cookie);

FormsAuthentication.SetAuthCookie(Username, true);

FormsAuthentication.SetAuthCookie

This method creates an authentication ticket for the supplied user name and adds it to the cookies collection of the response, or to the URL if you are using cookieless authentication. The first overload of this function has two parameters:

userName: The name of the authenticated user
createPersisntentCookie: True to create a persistent cookie (one that is saved across browser sessions); otherwise, false.

This method add a cookie or persistent cookie to the browser with an expire time set in "timeOut" parameter with the name and path set in "name" and "path" parameter. The user will be automatically logged out once the cookie is expired. So the user login session depends on the expire of forms authentication ticket saved in browser cookie. Here, I will create a permanent user login session using this technique.

Happy coding…

Setting the Initial Focus for User Control’s Textbox in WPF ModalDialog

2014-02-27T16:13:00.001+05:30

Below is the code for setting focus to user control’s textbox which is loaded as modaldialog in WPF.

public MyUserControl()
{
    InitializeComponent();
    FocusManager.SetFocusedElement(this, txtQuantity);

}

Happy coding…

Sort table rows randomly in SQL Server

2012-11-21T11:12:00.001+05:30

SELECT * FROM table
ORDER BY NEWID()

In the above example NEWID() creates a unique value of type uniqueidentifier for each row and sort the rows accordingly.

Below is the example for retrieving a single random record from a table

SELECT TOP 1 * FROM table
ORDER BY NEWID()

Happy coding…

Retrieving top 10 records from Data Table using LINQ in ASP.NET

2012-11-01T17:32:00.001+05:30

The below code will retrieve top 10 records from the data table.

DataTable1.AsEnumerable().Take(10);

Note: Add using System.Linq on the top.

If intellesense is not showing up, add reference to System.Core

We can copy these records to another data table as below

DataTable1.AsEnumerable().Take(10).CopyToDataTable();

Happy coding…

How to truncate text while data binding

2012-11-01T17:15:00.001+05:30

How to truncate text in a label control to allow maximum number of characters. I would like to avoid using code behind because the label is in a repeater.

<%   1: # Eval("EventDate").ToString().Substring(startIndex, Length of string)
%>

Happy coding…

How to find last day of month in C#

2012-09-18T16:41:00.001+05:30

Below is the code for retrieving last day (max days) in a month.

System.DateTime.DaysInMonth(int year, int month)

Happy coding…

Text rotation using HTML/CSS

2012-09-12T19:49:00.001+05:30

Have you ever needed to create a vertical text? Something like:

Sample Text

It is very simple and straight forward. We can use CSS to achieve that, the only issue we have to consider is compatibility.

Code

Let's start creating a simple div with a class ("VerticalText" for our example):

<div class="VerticalText">Sample Text</div>

As said, the problem is giving full compatibility with the rendered text. To do so, we need to treat Webkit, Mozilla, Opera and IE in different way. This time, Internet Explorer is the easiest: we will use the writing-mode and flip properties. For all other browsers, we are going to use transform with rotate.
Here is our final style:

<style type="text/css">
.VerticalText {
    color: green;
    writing-mode:tb-rl;
     filter: flipv fliph;
    -webkit-transform:rotate(270deg);
    -moz-transform:rotate(270deg);
    -o-transform: rotate(270deg);
    white-space:nowrap;
    width:60px; font-family: calibri;
    font-size:20pt;
    font-weight:bold;
}
</style>

For Internet Explorer we change the writing mode to top to bottom, right to left, then we flip it vertically and horizontally.
For Webkit, Mozilla and Opera, we use transform and rotate (270deg).
The result will work in Opera 10.5+, IE6+, FF and Webkit based browsers.

Happy coding…

How to generate row number in sql server

2012-08-27T17:02:00.001+05:30

SELECT
    ROW_NUMBER() OVER( ORDER BY ColumnName),   
    ColumnName1, ColumnName2,... 
FROM TableName

Happy coding…

How to add auto generated serial number column to Grid View?

2012-08-27T16:52:00.001+05:30

<asp:GridView  runat="server" id="GridView1">
    <Columns>
        <asp:TemplateField ItemStyle-Height="20">
            <ItemTemplate>
                    <%#Container.DataItemIndex+1 %>
            </ItemTemplate>
        </asp:TemplateField>
    </Columns>
</asp:GridView>

Happy coding…

How to replace a string in a SQL Server Table Column

2012-08-21T17:33:00.001+05:30

Updating SQL Server table column using REPLACE function

UPDATE TABLENAME
SET COLUMNNAME = REPLACE(COLUMNNAME, 'Old String', 'New String')
WHERE CONDITION

Happy coding…

Upload Profile Picture Using AsyncFileUpload Control in ASP.NET

2012-07-18T16:21:00.001+05:30

This article shows how to preview the image before uploading the image to the server so that it can be saved into the database later. User will always like to see the image which has to be uploaded. This has been done using AsyncFileUpload(Ajax Control Toolkit) and HTTPHandler.

Here I am not interested to display the file upload control below the image control. Just these should be an image where user has to click on that to change/upload profile picture.

Below is the css for the desired UI

1. Write the below style under <head> section of asp.net page

<style type="text/css">
    .FileUploadClass
    {
        font-size: 5px;
        z-index: 500;
        position: relative;
        z-index: 10;
    }
    .FileUploadClass input[type=file]
    {
        background: transparent;
        border: Dashed 2px #000000;
        opacity: 0;
        filter: alpha(opacity = 0);
        width: 150px;
        height: 150px;
    }
    .FakeFileUpload
    {
        position: relative;
        border: Solid 1px #000000;
        width: 150px;
        height: 150px;
        z-index: 1;
    }
    .FakeFileUploadDiv
    {
        width: 150px;
        height: 150px;
        position: absolute;
        opacity: 1.0;
        -ms-filter: "progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.Alpha(Opacity=100)";
        filter: alpha(opacity=100);
        z-index: 5;
    }
</style>

2. Below code should be placed under <body> section of asp.net page

<asp:UpdatePanel ID="UpdatePanel1" UpdateMode="Always" runat="server">
    <ContentTemplate>
        <div class="FakeFileUpload">
            <div class="FakeFileUploadDiv">
                <asp:Image ID="imgPhoto" runat="server" ImageUrl="~/images/Employee.png" alt="Employee Photo"
                    Height="150px" Width="150px" />
            </div>
            <ajaxToolkit:AsyncFileUpload ID="AsyncFileUpload1" runat="server" ThrobberID="loader"
                CssClass="FileUploadClass" OnClientUploadComplete="OnClientAsyncFileUploadComplete"
                OnUploadedComplete="AsyncFileUpload1_UploadedComplete" Width="150" />
            <asp:Image ID="loader" runat="server" ImageUrl="~/images/loading.gif" />
        </div>
    </ContentTemplate>
<asp:UpdatePanel>

3. So this is UI part. Next we need to write some server side code for “OnUploadComplete” event of AsyncFileUpload control to save the uploaded file in a “temp” folder.

   1: protected void AsyncFileUpload1_UploadedComplete(object sender, AjaxControlToolkit.AsyncFileUploadEventArgs e)   2:     {   3:         if (AsyncFileUpload1.PostedFile != null)   4:         {   5:             string uploadedFileName = Path.GetFileName(AsyncFileUpload1.FileName);   6:             AsyncFileUpload1.SaveAs(Server.MapPath("~/temp/") + uploadedFileName);   7:             imgPhoto.ImageUrl = "~/temp/" + uploadedFileName;   8:             HttpPostedFile file = AsyncFileUpload1.PostedFile;   9:    10:             byte[] data = ReadFile(file);  11:             //Store the image in the session.  12:             Session["STORED_IMAGE"] = data;  13:         }  14:     }

In the above code, the user selected file will be stored in server temp folder and also image control’s “IamgeUrl” is also set to the uploaded file.

Problem: Here there is no problem with file uploading, but the uploaded image will not be displayed to the user even image control’s path is changed. This is because of AJAX AsyncFileUpload control.

Solution: Image Preview before uploading

After the file is uploaded instead of saving it in the location in the server instead HttpHandler can be used which can write the uploaded image directly into the response. so no storage and less headaches.

So we don’t need lines from 5 to 8 in the above snippet. We need to have only lines 10 to 12.

i. Store the uploaded image into Session in binary format.

if (asyncFileUpload.PostedFile != null)
{
    HttpPostedFile file = asyncFileUpload.PostedFile;

    byte[] data = ReadFile(file);
    //Store the image in the session.
    Session["STORED_IMAGE"] = data;
}

Below is the code for converting image into binary format.

private byte[] ReadFile(HttpPostedFile file)
{
    byte[] data = new Byte[file.ContentLength];
    file.InputStream.Read(data, 0, file.ContentLength);
    return data;
}

ii. After image is uploaded need to call an image handler to generate image preview. For this I am using client side event “OnClientUploadComplete” of AsyncFileUpload control.

Below is the javascript

<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
    function getRandomNumber() {
        var randomnumber = Math.random(10000);
        return randomnumber;
    }

    function OnClientAsyncFileUploadComplete(sender, args) {
        var handlerPage = '<%= Page.ResolveClientUrl("~/ImageHandler.ashx")%>';
        var queryString = '?randomno=' + getRandomNumber();
        var src = handlerPage + queryString;

        var clientId = '<%=imgPhoto.ClientID %>';
        document.getElementById(clientId).setAttribute("src", src);
    }
</script>

Note: Use the randomnumber in the querystring of the handler otherwise, browser caches the first image and returns the same image again and again.

iii. Create the HttpHandler which is using (ImageHandler.ashx) in the above javascript

public class ImageRequestHandler : IHttpHandler, IRequiresSessionState
{
    public void ProcessRequest(HttpContext context)
    {
        context.Response.Clear();

        if (context.Request.QueryString.Count != 0)
        {
            //Get the stored image and write in the response.
            var storedImage = context.Session["STORED_IMAGE"] as byte[];
            if (storedImage != null)
            {
                Image image = GetImage(storedImage);
                if (image != null)
                {
                    context.Response.ContentType = "image/jpeg";
                    image.Save(context.Response.OutputStream, ImageFormat.Jpeg);
                }
            }
        }
    }

    private Image GetImage(byte[] storedImage)
    {
        var stream = new MemoryStream(storedImage);
        return Image.FromStream(stream);
    }

    public bool IsReusable
    {
        get { return false; }
    }
}

Note: Use the IRequiresSessionState to access the session variables in the Handler.

In the above code image preview will be generated based on the binary data stored in Session variable (step 3).

Happy coding…

Using REPLACE in an UPDATE statement

2012-07-17T17:13:00.001+05:30

The REPLACE function is easy to use and very handy with an UPDATE statment.

Replace searches for certain characters in a string and replaces them with other characters.

Syntax:

UPDATE <table name> SET <column name> = REPLACE(<COLUMN Name>, 'oldstring', 'newstring') WHERE <Condition>

Happy Coding…

Sending Email from GoDaddy Windows Shared Hosting using asp.net 3.5

2012-07-13T20:26:00.001+05:30

The server "relay-hosting.secureserver.net" is used to send email from your hosted domain on GoDaddy.com servers. You must populate the SmtpMail object's SmtpServer property with this value.

// import namespace

using System.Web.Mail;

private void SendEmail()

   const string SERVER = "relay-hosting.secureserver.net";

   MailMessage oMail = new System.Web.Mail.MailMessage();

   oMail.From = "emailaddress@domainname";

   oMail.To = "emailaddress@domainname";

   oMail.Subject = "Test email subject";

   oMail.BodyFormat = MailFormat.Html; // enumeration

   oMail.Priority = MailPriority.High; // enumeration

   oMail.Body = "Sent at: " + DateTime.Now;

   SmtpMail.SmtpServer = SERVER;

   SmtpMail.Send(oMail);

   oMail = null; // free up resources

Note: GoDaddy servers will not send email containing a “From:” header entry of gmail, yahoo, hotmail, live, aim, aol or msn.

Happy Coding…

Using Relative path for including script and css files in asp.net UserControl

2012-03-03T16:34:00.001+05:30

I have asp.net usercontrol that is including some js script and cs files like

<script type="text/javascript" src="/UserControl/JScripts/JScripts.js"/>
<link rel="Stylesheet" href="/UserControl/css/style.css" type="text/css" />

I am going to use this control in different pages which are in different directories.

In that case these styles/scripts not working in all pages because of relative path used in user control

For these kinds of elements, Page.ResolveClientUrl() is the perfect solution.

As this user control could be used from any web page within the web application, there will be path related issues with these <script> and <link> elements also (If paths properties are set for one page appropriately, the same path will not work other pages in different directory ).
To solve this issue, the above elements should also be modified with the ResolveClientUrl() as follows:

<script type="text/javascript" src='<%=ResolveClientUrl("~/UserControl/JScripts/JScripts.js")%>' />
<link rel="Stylesheet" href='<%=ResolveClientUrl("~/UserControl/css/style.css")%>' type="text/css" />

Happy Coding…

Prevent postback events on page refresh

2011-12-21T11:42:00.000+05:30

A common concern of ASP.NET developers is, "How do I prevent previously submitted form data from being reinserted into the database when the user presses the browser's Refresh button?"

Different solutions are available for this problem.

Reload the page after successful postback
A simple solution is to Reload the same page using Response.Redirect after successful transaction.
Response.Redirect(Request.Url.ToString(), false);
A disadvantage of this approach is that page ViewSate will not be retained.
Using OnClientClick event (javascript)
Create a javascript function which validates the fields to be submitted. If any validation failed it has to return false otherwise it has to return true.
To avoid the post back handle the OnClientClick event call the javascript function which retuns true on successful validation otherwise false. If OnClientClick gets true from the script function then it would raise the OnClick event, otherwise it would not.
```
<asp:Button ID="btnValidate" runat="server" Text="Click Here!!" OnClientClick=" return ValidateEmail()" OnClick ="btnValidate_Click"/>
```
Below is the sample javascript:
```
function ValidateEmail()
    {   
         var x = document.getElementById('txtemail');
        
         var val = x.value;
         if(val == "")
         {
           alert("Please enter your email id");
           x.focus();
           return false;
         }
            return true;
    }
```
The fields should be cleared on successful completion of postback.
Server-side code using Session and ViewState variables
A simple way to implement refresh trapping is by the use of a date/time stamp held in a ViewState variable and a date/time stamp held in the user's Session. When the page is first loaded, a Session variable is populated with the current date/time. On the page's PreRender event, a ViewState variable is set to the value of the Session variable. These two values are compared to each other immediately before the database INSERT command is run.
If they are equal, then the command is permitted to execute and the Session variable is updated with the current date/time, otherwise the command is bypassed. Should the user refresh the page, the ViewState variable will be repopulated from the post header, so then the ViewState and Session variables will no longer hold the same values, and the INSERT command will not run. Note that ViewState needs to be enabled on the page for this to work; if ViewState is not enabled then a hidden form field may be used instead.
```
public void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    if (!Page.IsPostBack) {
        Session["update"] = Server.UrlEncode(System.DateTime.Now.ToString());
    }
}

public void Page_PreRender(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    ViewState["update"] = Session["update"];
}

public void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    if (Session["update"].ToString() == ViewState["update"].ToString()) {
        if (AddEmployee(firstName.Text, lastName.Text) == 0) {
            Message.Text = "Success";
            Session["update"] = Server.UrlEncode(System.DateTime.Now.ToString());
        } else {
            Message.Text = "Failure";
        }
    } else {
        Message.Text = "Failure - Session";
    }
    firstName.Text = "";
    lastName.Text = "";
}
```

Happy coding…

Child window (popup) close event in parent window

2011-10-22T22:02:00.001+05:30

This is the most useful and most wanted code for raising window close event of child window from parent window.

<script type="text/javascript">

   var childWindow = null;

   var timer;

   var flag = 1;

   function openChildWindow() {

       childWindow = window.open('child.htm', 'My popup', 'width=400,height=250');

       childWindow.focus();

   function checkChildWindowStatus() {

       if (childWindow.closed) {

           if (flag == 1)

                window.location.reload();

                flag = 0;

           else {

                timer = 0;

                flag = 1;

   window.onload = function () {

       timer = setInterval('checkChildWindowStatus()', 1000);

</script>

In the above code childWindow is the variable which reference to the popup window. Using this window status can be identified.

checkChildWindowStatus() is the function where the popup window status is checking and based on this some action (page refresh) can be performed in parent window. This function is getting called for frequent interval of time using serInterval() method.

Happy coding…

InitCap in asp.net

2011-10-22T21:51:00.001+05:30

Below is the line of code for rendering text in InitCap format.

System.Globalization.CultureInfo.CurrentUICulture.TextInfo.ToTitleCase(txtName.ToString().ToLower())

Here the source string should be in lower case.

Happy coding…

Access web control on Nested master page from content page

2011-10-08T11:09:00.001+05:30

For example I have a DropDownList control in the inner master page. This control can be accessed from the content page in 2 ways.

Using the findcontrol method to access the DropDownList, you need to use the DropDownList's ClientID.
For example :

DropDownList list = (DropDownList)this.Master.FindControl("ctl00$ctl00$ContentPlaceHolder1$DropDownList1");
Expose the DropDownList control in the inner master page's code bhind, then the control can accessed directly.

Expose the DropDownList control:

        public DropDownList list
        {
             get
             {
                    return this.DropDownList1;
             }
        }

Add the masterType for the content page to strong type the master page:
<%@ MasterType VirtualPath="~/Masterpage/NestMasterPage/MasterPage2.master" %>

Access the DropDownList in the content page's codebehind:
        DropDownList list = this.Master.list;

Happy Coding…

IDENT_CURRENT–Retrieve last inserted identity of record

2011-08-17T14:48:00.000+05:30

SELECT IDENT_CURRENT(‘<tablename>’)

It returns the last IDENTITY value produced in a table, regardless of the connection that created the value, and regardless of the scope of the statement that produced the value.
IDENT_CURRENT is not limited by scope and session; it is limited to a specified table. IDENT_CURRENT returns the identity value generated for a specific table in any session and any scope.

Happy Coding…

Simulating ListView’s ItemCommand Event

2011-06-07T14:31:00.001+05:30

Data controls in asp.net like GridView, DataList, Repeater, ListView,… are having an event called ItemCommand.

This event will raise whenever any button, linkbutton,… are clicked.

But my requirement is to call the ItemCommand event whenever the ListView.Databind() is done.

Below is the procedure I followed for that.

System.Web.UI.WebControls.LinkButton lnkbtn = (System.Web.UI.WebControls.LinkButton)lvMyAlbums.Items[0].FindControl("lnkAlbum");

ListViewCommandEventArgs ev = new ListViewCommandEventArgs(lvMyAlbums.Items[0], lnkbtn, new CommandEventArgs(lnkbtn.CommandName, lnkbtn.CommandArgument));

// Call ItemCommand handler

lvMyAlbums_OnItemCommand(lvMyAlbums, ev);

Happy coding…

Convert DateTime to Indian Standard Time format in SQL Server

2011-06-01T16:55:00.000+05:30

DATEADD() function would be used to convert UTC to IST in SQL Server.

Below is the sample code for that.

DECLARE @UTCTime As DATETIME;
SET @UTCTime = GETUTCDATE();
SELECT DATEADD(MI, 330, @UTCTime) AS IST

Happy Coding…

URL shortener in .net using bit.ly API

2011-05-26T13:37:00.001+05:30

It’s simple to generate shorten url based on long url using bit.ly API.

For this we need to have account with http://bit.ly/a/sign_up which is free. After sign up completed, you will be provided with an API key http://bit.ly/a/your_api_key

This API key can be used to access the API. Below is the code for API class in c#

public static class BitlyApi
{
    private const string apiKey = "[add api key here]";
    private const string login = "[add login name here]";

    public static BitlyResults ShortenUrl(string longUrl)
    {
        var url =
            string.Format("http://api.bit.ly/shorten?format=xml&version=2.0.1&longUrl={0}&login={1}&apiKey={2}",
                          HttpUtility.UrlEncode(longUrl), login, apiKey);
        var resultXml = XDocument.Load(url);
        var x = (from result in resultXml.Descendants("nodeKeyVal")
                 select new BitlyResults
                            {
                                UserHash = result.Element("userHash").Value,
                                ShortUrl = result.Element("shortUrl").Value
                            }
                );
        return x.Single();
    }
}

public class BitlyResults
{
    public string UserHash { get; set; }

    public string ShortUrl { get; set; }
}

Now, we can generate short url as below:

string strShortUrl = BitlyApi.ShortenUrl(“<long url>”).ShortUrl;

Happy Coding…

Customizing Date format in WPF

2011-05-23T15:27:00.001+05:30

The datepicker control in WPF allow short and Long formats. By default it will take system date format.

So we can change the date format as our application requires like dd/MM/yyyy or MM/dd/YYYY,…

Need to write some couple of lines under Application_Startup Event in App.XAML.

Below is the code for custom date format.

Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = (CultureInfo)Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture.Clone();

Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture.DateTimeFormat.DateSeparator = "/";

Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture.DateTimeFormat.ShortDatePattern = "dd/MM/yyyy";

This is event should be initiated from XAML code like below.

Happy Coding…

Membership and Roles in ASP.NET

2010-08-12T17:26:00.004+05:30

The aspnet_regsql.exe runs the ASP.NET SQL Server Setup Wizard which allows you to create or configure a SQL Server database to store information for membership, profiles, role management, personalization, and SQL Web event provider. Once created, you may use forms authentication and the login controls to access these tables.

In the Microsoft.NET/Framework/... directory as shown below, find the aspnet_regsql.exe.

Execute the aspnet_regsql.exe file to begin the ASP.NET SQL Server Setup Wizard to create the SQL Server database or add tables to an existing database:

Select to Configure SQL Server for application services:

Select a Server name for Windows authentication and then select an existing database name or use the default. Choosing the default will name the database "aspnetdb."

If you want to use an existing database, simply select the database.

The wizard will now summarize, run and create the database.

After completion, you may use the Database Explorer to view your tables:

When done creating the database, you would setup your web config file with the connection string to the aspnetdb.mdf. You would also make sure your authentication mode is set to forms: authentication mode="Forms" (see below).

Once you've completed the connection string, you will want to setup a user in your tables. To do this, you may use the ASP.NET Configuration under the Website menu item.

You may use the Security tab to add and edit users.

Select the Create User link to create a user. Select the "Administrators" checkbox if you wish this to be an administrative account. Once your Admin account is created, others may use the CreateUserWizard in your application in order to create accounts.

Happy coding…