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Getting a user's last login date -- Before it's updated by the ASP.NET framework!

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26 Oct 2006CPOL1 min read 65.3K   17   5
Retrieve's the user's last login date during login, and store it to a session variable.

Introduction

A quick and easy way to get the user's last login date before the ASP.NET framework updates it during the login process.

How it works

The idea is to catch the Authenticate message before the framework has a chance to do its thing. This will allow us to examine the user's properties before they are actually logged in. Therefore, we are getting the last login date before we authenticate them.

Once, we have a valid user, we store the date into a session variable for later use.

Setting up an example

  • Create a new ASP.NET 2.0 project that uses the Membership Provider. There are lots of samples of this already.
  • Add a login control to your default.aspx page. See the "Login Control" code section below.
  • Verify that this works with your Membership Provider.
  • Add the OnAuthenticate handler to the Login1 control. See "OnAuthenticate Handler" below.
  • In your default.cs file, add the handler function for OnAuthenticate. See the "Authenticate Function" below.

Login control

Add this inside your Default.aspx page's <body> tag:

ASP.NET
<asp:Login ID="Login1" runat="server" VisibleWhenLoggedIn="False">
</asp:Login>

OnAuthenticate handler

After adding the OnAuthenticate handler, your login control should look like:

ASP.NET
<asp:Login ID="Login1" runat="server" 
   OnAuthenticate="Login1_Authenticate" VisibleWhenLoggedIn="False">
</asp:Login>

Authenticate function

Add the following code inside the partial class in default.cs:

C#
protected void Login1_Authenticate(object sender, AuthenticateEventArgs e)
{
    Login login = (Login)sender;
    // Get the user attempting to login

    MembershipUser user = Membership.GetUser(login.UserName);

    if ( user != null )
    {
        // Get the date the user last logged in before
        // the user is validated and the login gets updated
        // to the current login date

        DateTime dtLastLogin = user.LastLoginDate;

        // Attempt to validate user -- if success then set the authenticated
        // flag so that the framework knows to allow the user access
        if (Membership.ValidateUser(login.UserName, login.Password))
        {
            Session["LastLoginDate"] = dtLastLogin;
            e.Authenticated = true;
        }
    }
}

Conclusion

This is an easy but effective way to get the user's actual last login date.

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)


Written By
CEO Vertical AIT (Vertical Automation & Information Te
United States United States
Software Architect and CEO of Vertical AIT.

We build intuitive Data Acquisition, Control, and Automation systems. We offer software for all of the Verticals of your business from firmware and data acquisition to web dashboards and reporting.

Education:
BS Computer Science + MBA
Texas A&M University

Comments and Discussions

 
Generaldetermining last login date for a current user in MOSS 2007 Pin
fastian133528-Jun-10 22:22
fastian133528-Jun-10 22:22 
Generalthis.Login1.UserName is good! Pin
pccai16-Jul-07 5:56
pccai16-Jul-07 5:56 
GeneralNewbie observation Pin
dbConner27-Oct-06 5:23
dbConner27-Oct-06 5:23 
GeneralRe: Newbie observation Pin
Vertical AIT27-Oct-06 5:45
Vertical AIT27-Oct-06 5:45 
GeneralRe: Newbie observation Pin
MPatriot5-Nov-07 17:14
MPatriot5-Nov-07 17:14 

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