I am happy with AspNetMembershipProvider except I want to also validate the user against an external database and pull in some simple data like name, email address and possibly some roles. I think I know how to do this but a couple of development issues are holding me up:

I have created a CustomProviders project and added my new provider class. I was expecting to be able to extend AspNetMembershipProver and override the ValidateUser() method, but:

I can't get the references to work so I can build this custom project.

using DotNetNuke.Security.Membership;
...
public class CustomMembershipProvider : AspNetMembershipProvider

...won't build as it thinks it has an ambiguous reference. My reference dlls only contain Provider.Membership.AspNetProvider

Another problem is how to override the (already overridden in MembershipProvider)  ValidateUser() method in AspNetMembershipProvider? Do I make it overridable in the DNN core source code?

Finally should my custom providers project reside inside the DotnetNuke Solution Items or can it be a totally independent project that is referenced by the website installation?

I have looked around for solutions to the above, but most seem to propose copy and paste of a provider you like and modify it. Perhaps this is the only way if AspNetMembershipProvider hasn't been designed to be sub classed. All advice and pointers gratefully received.

Thanks Brandon. That was encouraging. I have sorted the referencing out along the lines you suggest and I can now, in my separate project, override AspNetMembershipProvider.ValidateUser(). I have sullied the DNN source by making this method overridable. Do you know of any reason why I shouldn't do this?

Current code, which only needs DotNetNuke.dll and DotNetNuke.Provider.AspNetProvider.dll referenced to compile:

Lots more to do, but that works as it stands. Now to develop the remaining functionality with TDD and Mocks!

@Brandon: "avoid that perilous core change!"

That sounds like good advice. I have therefore abandoned the core change and created a wrapper around AspNetMembershipProvider - it looks like I will end up with a Decorator Pattern as I can envisage needing various versions for upcoming clients, and sometimes pipelined authentication (ip, referer, client web service...). I think - as you have found with your implementations - that interaction with the external resource will involve more than just validation.

(Note: I initially avoided a wrapper as I was too lazy to create all the plumbing needed, but it turns out that ReSharper makes it dead easy:-)

I would be very grateful if you have any pointers on how to:

a) Create a new user on the fly if the external resource validates and a DNN account doesn't exist yet

b) Add the user to externally supplied roles.

I have sort of done the roles part, but I need to reload the application to see the effect . Also, I know something isn't quite right as my simplistic approach causes a crashing problem with the RoleController. It is almost certainly my lack of understanding at this level of detail that is the problem. Here is my (test) code :

Neil

internal void UpDateRoles(int portalId, UserInfo user)
{
if (!user.IsInRole("Member"))
 {
   RoleController controller = new RoleController();
   RoleInfo roleInfo = controller.GetRoleByName(portalId,"Member");
   controller.AddUserRole(portalId, user.UserID, roleInfo.RoleID,System.DateTime.Now);
   controller.UpdateRole(roleInfo);
 }
}