I've been doing C# for a month now so please forgive the 'localness' to this question but I have researched for a few hours and I have hit a brick wall.
I've seen examples left and right for Role-based authorization for WPF applications utilizing IIdentity
and IPrincipal
.
I can't find a lot of information, however, on a more Permission-based authorization approach, in this app imagine there are no Groups but just a list of permissions and users and you can assign anyone any permission.
I'd like to be able to:
1) Be able to control the UI/elements based on user permissions with such states as: Enabled, ReadOnly, Invisible, Collapsed (as seen here https://uiauth.codeplex.com/)
2) Be able to specify at the class or method level which permissions are required (similar to http://lostechies.com/derickbailey/2011/05/24/dont-do-role-based-authorization-checks-do-activity-based-checks/)
Instead of:
[PrincipalPermission(SecurityAction.Demand, Role = "Administrators")]
I want something like:
[PrincipalPermission(SecurityAction.Demand, Permission = "Can add users")]
Right now the only way I see how to do this is utilizing ICommand
and putting authorization logic in the CanExecute
methods using a lot of string comparison to see if the user has the required rights to perform requested actions like:
// Employee class
public bool HasRight(SecurityRight right)
{
return employee.Permissions.Contains(right);
}
// Implementation, check if employee has right to continue
if (employee.HasRight(db.SecurityRights.Single(sr => sr.Description == "Can edit users")))
{
// Allowed to perform action
}
else
{
// User does not have right to continue
throw SecurityException;
}
I've been told Enum Flags may be what I'm looking for What does the [Flags] Enum Attribute mean in C#?
I think I understand enum/flag/bits but not enough to complete the implementation...
If I have:
EmployeeModel
EmployeeViewModel
ThingTwoModel
ThingTwoViewModel
MainView
I'm not sure where everything goes and how to tie it all together.... here's what I have so far (I realize this isnt a working example... thats my problem!):
[Flags]
public enum Permissions
{
None = 0,
Create = 1 << 0,
Read = 1 << 1,
Update = 1 << 2,
Delete = 1 << 3,
User = 1 << 4,
Group = 1 << 5
}
public static void testFlag()
{
Permissions p;
var x = p.HasFlag(Permissions.Update) && p.HasFlag(Permissions.User);
var desiredPermissions = Permissions.User | Permissions.Read | Permissions.Create;
if (x & p == desiredPermissions)
{
//the user can be created and read by this operator
}
}
Thank you for any guidance.
well the testFlag
won't work as it is. I think you want something along the lines of (LINQPad c# program snippet):
void Main()
{
//can create user but not read the information back
var userCanBeCreatedPermission = Permissions.Create | Permissions.User;
//can create and readback
var userCanBeCreatedAndReadBackPermission = userCanBeCreatedPermission | Permissions.Read;
userCanBeCreatedPermission.HasFlag(Permissions.User).Dump(); //returns true
(userCanBeCreatedPermission.HasFlag(Permissions.User) && userCanBeCreatedPermission.HasFlag(Permissions.Read)).Dump(); //returns false
//alternative way of checking flags is to combine the flags and do an And mask check
//the above can be written as
((userCanBeCreatedPermission & (Permissions.User | Permissions.Read)) == (Permissions.User | Permissions.Read)).Dump(); //returns false
//using a variable to have combined permissions for readibility & using And mask:
var desiredPermissions = Permissions.User | Permissions.Read;
//checking with user that has both Create & Read permissions
((userCanBeCreatedAndReadBackPermission & desiredPermissions) == desiredPermissions).Dump(); // returns true because the user information can be read back by this user
((userCanBeCreatedAndReadBackPermission & Permissions.Delete) == Permissions.Delete).Dump(); // returns false because the user can't be deleted
}
[Flags]
public enum Permissions
{
None = 0,
Create = 1 << 0,
Read = 1 << 1,
Update = 1 << 2,
Delete = 1 << 3,
User = 1 << 4,
Group = 1 << 5
}
Does that answer your question?
Final solution (.linq):
void Main()
{
// Permissions definition
var userCreate = new Authorization<User>(Permissions.Create);
var userRead = new Authorization<User>(Permissions.Read);
var carrotCreate = new Authorization<Carrot>(Permissions.Create);
var carrotRead = new Authorization<Carrot>(Permissions.Read);
// User
var user = new User();
// User has no permissions yet
if(user.IsAuthorized<User>(Permissions.Create))
"I can create User".Dump();
else
"No creating User for me".Dump();
// Now user can Create users
user.Authorizations.Add(userCreate);
if(user.IsAuthorized<User>(Permissions.Create))
"I can create User".Dump();
else
"No creating User for me".Dump();
// User can read carrots
user.Authorizations.Add(carrotRead);
if(user.IsAuthorized<Carrot>(Permissions.Create))
"I can create carrots".Dump();
else
"No creating carrots for me".Dump();
if(user.IsAuthorized<Carrot>(Permissions.Read))
"I can read carrots".Dump();
else
"No reading carrots for me".Dump();
// User can now create carrots
user.Authorizations.Add(carrotCreate);
if(user.IsAuthorized<Carrot>(Permissions.Create))
"I can create carrots".Dump();
else
"No creating carrots for me".Dump();
}
[Flags]
public enum Permissions : ulong
{
Create = 1 << 0,
Read = 1 << 1,
Update = 1 << 2,
Delete = 1 << 3
}
public abstract class Auth{
}
public class Authorization<T> : Auth {
public Authorization(Permissions permissions){ this.Permissions = permissions; }
public Permissions Permissions {get;set;}
}
public class Carrot{
public int Id{get; set;}
}
public class User{
public User(){ Authorizations = new List<Auth>(); }
public List<Auth> Authorizations{get; set;}
public bool IsAuthorized<T>(Permissions permission){
foreach(var auth in Authorizations)
if(auth is Authorization<T>){
var a = auth as Authorization<T>;
if(a.Permissions == permission)
return true;
}
return false;
}
}