Adding custom fields to users

By default, the implementation uses the Kentico.Membership.ApplicationUser type to represent users. Objects of this type wrap CMS.Membership.UserInfo objects (which represent the user in Xperience), and facilitate the transfer of user data between the Identity implementation and internal Xperience logic.

If you defined any custom user fields that you wish to handle via Kentico.Membership types (e.g., when creating or updating user information, performing authentication or authorization, etc.), you need to ensure proper mapping between the UserInfo object and the Kentico.Membership.ApplicationUser object.

1. Open your project in Visual Studio.

2. Create a new class that inherits from Kentico.Membership.ApplicationUser.

3. Declare properties that correspond to the custom fields you specified in the administration interface. 

   Besides exposing custom fields added to the user object via the administration interface, you can also expose existing fields of the user object that are not accessible by default via the Kentico.Membership.ApplicationUser type. For example, the MiddleName user field or advanced user fields from the UserSettings class. See the ExtendedUser class below for an example.

4. Override the MapFromUserInfo and MapToUserInfo methods and:

   • Call the base implementation of the methods. This maps all properties of the Kentico.Membership.ApplicationUser class such as FirstName and Email.

   • Get and set values of the custom properties you wish to have available using UserInfo.GetValue and UserInfo.SetValue. 

     ExtendedUser class that extends the default Kentico.Membership.ApplicationUser object

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       using CMS.Membership;
     
       using Kentico.Membership;
     
       namespace MembershipCustomization
       {
           // Extends the default Kentico.Membership.ApplicationUser object
           public class ExtendedUser : ApplicationUser
           {
               // Exposes the existing 'MiddleName' property of the 'UserInfo' object
               public string MiddleName
               {
                   get;
                   set;
               }
     
               // Property that corresponds to a custom field specified in the administration
               public string CustomField
               {
                   get;
                   set;
               }
     
               // Ensures field mapping between Xperience user objects and the Kentico.Membership ASP.NET Identity implementation
               // Called when retrieving users from Xperience via Kentico.Membership.ApplicationUserManager<TUser>
               public override void MapFromUserInfo(UserInfo source)
               {
                   // Calls the base class implementation of the MapFromUserInfo method
                   base.MapFromUserInfo(source);
     
                   // Maps the 'MiddleName' property to the extended user object
                   MiddleName = source.MiddleName;
     
                   // Sets the value of the 'CustomField' property
                   CustomField = source.GetValue<string>("CustomField", null);
               }
     
               // Ensures field mapping between Xperience user objects and the Kentico.Membership ASP.NET Identity implementation
               // Called when creating or updating users using Kentico.Membership.ApplicationUserManager<TUser>
               public override void MapToUserInfo(UserInfo target)
               {
                   // Calls the base class implementation of the MapToUserInfo method
                   base.MapToUserInfo(target);
     
                   // Maps the 'MiddleName' property to the target 'UserInfo' object
                   target.MiddleName = MiddleName;
     
                   // Sets the value of the 'CustomField' custom user field
                   target.SetValue("CustomField", CustomField);
               }
           }
       }
     
     
       

5. In your application’s startup file (Startup.cs by default), edit the ConfigureServices method. Register the services required to work with Xperience Identity, such as ApplicationUserManager, ApplicationUserStore, PasswordHasher and SignInManager, with the extended user class as their generic parameter (ExtendedUser in this example).

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    public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
    {
        ...
        // Adds Xperience services required by the system's Identity implementation
        services.AddScoped<IPasswordHasher<ExtendedUser>, Kentico.Membership.PasswordHasher<ExtendedUser>>();
        services.AddScoped<IMessageService, MessageService>();
   
        services.AddApplicationIdentity<ExtendedUser, ApplicationRole>()
                        // Adds token providers used to generate tokens for email confirmations, password resets, etc.
                        .AddApplicationDefaultTokenProviders()
                        // Adds an implementation of the UserStore for working with Xperience user objects
                        .AddUserStore<ApplicationUserStore<ExtendedUser>>()
                        // Adds an implementation of the RoleStore used for working with Xperience roles
                        .AddRoleStore<ApplicationRoleStore<ApplicationRole>>()
                        // Adds an implementation of the UserManager for Xperience membership
                        .AddUserManager<ApplicationUserManager<ExtendedUser>>()
                        // Adds the default implementation of the SignInManger
                        .AddSignInManager<SignInManager<ExtendedUser>>();
   
        // Adds authentication and authorization services provided by the framework
        services.AddAuthentication();
        services.AddAuthorization();
   
        ...
   
   
    

6. When retrieving the registered services from your dependency injection container, specify the type with the extended user class as the generic parameter, for example:

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    public AccountController(ApplicationUserManager<ExtendedUser> userManager, SignInManager<ExtendedUser> signInManager)
   
   
    

   This ensures that you retrieve the service capable of working with the extended user object.