Should i use Membership and profile Providers

[Nitesh]

Hi Guys,

I'm working on a new website. Kind of like a social networking one. Where you have a user table. The user will have a profile with fields like Firstname, ProfileImage, date of Birth etc. Now I'm using MySQL 5 and asp.net. I'm just wondering whether I should create my own tables or use the membership ones. I have build a custom mysql provider but I don't know if I should go the Provider route. Please advise. I need to be able to let users invite friends etc. Do you guys see any issues arising in this scenario? How can I store a users profile image for example if i use providers?

[gep13]

Hello,

To say to rewriting a lot of code, unless you already have a predefined set of tables and schema, I would say just go ahead and use the built in providers for both Membership and Profile.

Yeah, some people say that they are bloated, but in my opinion, they do a good job, and do exactly what they say they do.

Gary

[gep13]

How can I store a users profile image for example if i use providers?

This could just be another profile property, i.e. the URL to where the image is stored.

Or, better still, you could integrate gravatar's into your application:

http://weblogs.asp.net/jgalloway/arc...n-asp-net.aspx

Gary

[Nitesh]

thanks Gary. would it be difficult to add the gravatar functionality to the page where a user enters their profile information? I can't find any examples also can I give the user the ability to change their profile picture if I use gravatar

[gep13]

Hello,

It's shouldn't be, no. The gravatar is driven off their email address, and should just work.

Didn't the link that I provide show you how to do it?

From a very quick read of the article, I thought that it did.

Gary

[Nitesh]

hey gary,

I've done a custom membership provider to work with mySQL. still busy on the profile provider. I've just finished the login part. Now I am able to get the logged in user id like this:

    Private iUser As Integer = Membership.GetUser(HttpContext.Current.User.Identity.Name).ProviderUserKey

However, I am using JQuery.load to load a specific div. I pass through the user id in the query string. I need to get the logged in users id in javascript. Is it possible to use the membership object is javascript?

[gep13]

Hello,

Are you creating a Custom Membership Provider because you already have an existing database? If you don't already have an existing database, why not simply use the Membership Provider that ships with the MySql Data Provider?

No, you will not be able to use it directly. You would need to, for instance, serialise it to JSON, and then consume that on the client side.

Gary