Sending custom parameter on authentication - servicestack

Question

I'm a servicestack newbie. I'm trying to figure out how to send custom parameter on authentication.
As far as I understood, that's the step to authenticate a client and than execute a set of call within a session
var jsonClient = new JsonServiceClient("http://localhost:55679/");
var authResponse = client.Send(new Authenticate
{
provider = "myProvider",
UserName = "user",
Password = "pwd",
RememberMe = true,
});
var jResponse = jsonClient.Get<CountriesResponse>(request);
Console.WriteLine(jResponse.Countries.Count);
So far so good, I configurated my apphost as following and everything works as expected.
Plugins.Add(new AuthFeature(() => new CustomUserSession(), new IAuthProvider[] {
new MyAuthProvider(),
}));
What should I do if, instead of sending ServiceStack.Authenticate, I'd like to send my MyAuthenticate
request that has same custom properties, somenthing like this?
var authResponse = client.Send(new MyAuthenticate
{
provider = "myProvider",
UserName = "user",
Password = "pwd",
RememberMe = true,
AppId = "AppId",
ProjectId = "ProjectId"
});
My goal is to send custom parameter while I'm authenticating the user, not just those allowed by Authenticate built-in request, and than store those extra parameter within my CustomUserSession.
Thanks

Answer 1

Sending additional info on QueryString or HttpHeaders
As you can't change the built-in Authenticate Request DTO, one way to send additional metadata is to add extra info on the QueryString or HTTP Headers.
If you wanted to use the .NET Service Clients to do this you would need to use the RequestFilter, e.g:
var client = new JsonServiceClient(BaseUrl) {
RequestFilter = req => {
req.QueryString["AppId"] = appId;
req.QueryString["ProjectId"] = appId;
}
};
var authResponse = client.Send(new Authenticate { ... });
Otherwise creating custom Request is often more flexible using ServiceStack's built-in HTTP Utils, e.g:
var url = "{0}/auth/myProvider".Fmt(BaseUrl)
.AddQueryParam("AppId", appId)
.AddQueryParam("ProjectId", projectId);
var authResponse = url.PostJsonToUrl(new Authenticate { ... });
On the server the additional data will be available in the QueryString of the current request which you can get from IServiceBase or IRequest args, e.g:
public class CustomCredentialsAuthProvider : CredentialsAuthProvider
{
...
public override IHttpResult OnAuthenticated(IServiceBase authService,
IAuthSession session, IAuthTokens tokens, Dictionary<string, string> authInfo)
{
...
var customSession = (CustomUserSession)session;
customSession.AppId = authService.Request.QueryString["AppId"];
customSession.ProjectId = authService.Request.QueryString["ProjectId"];
return base.OnAuthenticated(authService, session, tokens, authInfo);
}
}
Custom Meta dictionary now available on Authenticate Request DTO
To make this use-case a little easier a new Dictionary<string,string> Meta property was added on the Authenticate DTO which makes calling from the Typed Service Clients a little nicer since you don't have to use a filter, e.g:
var client = new JsonServiceClient(BaseUrl);
var authResponse = client.Send(new Authenticate {
...
Meta = new Dictionary<string, string> { {"AppId", appId}, {"ProjectId", pId} },
});
Which you can access from the Authenticate DTO directly, e.g:
var authRequest = (Authenticate)authService.Request.Dto;
customSession.AppId = authRequest.Meta["AppId"];
customSession.ProjectId = authRequest.Meta["ProjectId"];
The new Meta property is available from v4.0.35+ that's currently available on MyGet.
Use your own Custom Authentication Service
A more disruptive alternative approach to be able to use your own MyAuthenticate DTO is to handle the authentication request in your own Service and then delegate to the AuthService, e.g:
public class MyAuthenticate : Authenticate
{
public string AppId { get; set; }
public string ProjectId { get; set; }
}
public class MyAuthServices : Service
{
public object Any(MyAuthenticate request)
{
using (var auth = base.ResolveService<AuthenticateService>())
{
var response = auth.Post(request);
var authResponse = response as AuthenticateResponse;
if (authResponse != null) {
var session = base.SessionAs<CustomUserSession>();
session.AppId = request.AppId;
session.ProjectId = request.ProjectId;
this.SaveSession(session);
}
return response;
}
}
}