DevPapers - article Forms Authentication Against An XML File

Please read one of the earlier articles on Forms Authentication for an introduction and to see the required settings in the web.config file. The code below is just a modification of the login.aspx page.

<%@Page Language="VB" Trace="false"%>
<%@ Import Namespace="System.Web.Security" %>
<%@ Import Namespace="System.Xml" %>
<script language="VB" runat=server>  
  Sub ValidateLogin(Src as Object, E as EventArgs) 
  Dim sXmlPath As String = "C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\users.xml"    
  Dim oXmlDoc As New XmlDocument()    
  Try      
    oXmlDoc.Load(sXmlPath)    
  Catch oError As Exception
     StatusMessage.innerHTML = "There was an error:<BR>" & oError.Message & "<BR>" _ 
       & oError.Source & "."      
     Exit Sub    
   End Try    
   Dim oXmlUser As XmlNodeList    
   oXmlUser = oXmlDoc.GetElementsByTagname(txtUser.Value)
   If Not (oXmlUser Is Nothing) Then
     If txtPwd.Value = oXmlUser(0).FirstChild().Value Then
        FormsAuthentication.RedirectFromLoginPage(txtUser.Value, false)
      Else
       StatusMessage.InnerHtml = "Invalid login"
     End If
    End If
  End Sub
</script>
<html>
<head>
  <title>Forms Authentication Against An XML File</title>
</head>
<body>
<form method="post" runat="server">
  Username: <INPUT type="text" name="txtUser" id="txtUser"runat="server"/><BR>
  Password: <INPUT type="password" name="txtPwd" id="txtPwd"runat="server"/><BR>
<INPUT type="submit" OnServerClick="ValidateLogin" runat="server"/>
</form>
<SPAN id="StatusMessage" runat="server"/>
</body>
</html>

Here is the XML file used to hold the usernames and passwords.

<?xml version="1.0" ?><users>  <!-- format is <username>password</username> -->  
<user1>pass1</user1>  <user2>pass2</user2>  <user3>pass3</user3></users>
~Brad

Brad Kingsley is founder and president of ORCS Web, Inc. - a company that provides managed hosting services for clients who develop and deploy their applications on Microsoft Windows platforms.

<%@Page Language="VB" Trace="false"%>

<%@ Import Namespace="System.Web.Security" %> <%@ Import Namespace="System.Xml" %> <script language="VB" runat=server>