How to use userManager in initialize() method ASP.net MVC 5

Question

(Skip this for a TL;DR version)

I am trying to let the user set his prefered language of my website using an option in his profile. I got it all working at 99%: AccountController saves the culture when the user updates his profile and set a cookie "language". The website will then change its displayed language perfectly. However, I still need to set the website language when the user sign-in the first time without him having to update his profile to create the cookie.

So, I am trying to set the cookie early in the app cycle by overriding the Initialize() function of my base controller. The problem is that I can't access the user preference as UserManager is null. Is there a way to access my user's language preference saved in the database from the initialize() function of the baseController?

TL;DR version: userManager is null in initialize() function of the baseController. How can I access the current user variables from there ?

     protected override void Initialize(RequestContext requestContext)
    {
        try
        {
            String culture = requestContext.HttpContext.GetOwinContext().Request.Cookies["language"];
            if(culture != null)
            {
                Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo(culture);
                Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture = CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo(culture);
            }
            else
            {
                if (requestContext.HttpContext.User.Identity.IsAuthenticated)
                {
                    String userName = requestContext.HttpContext.User.Identity.GetUserName();
                    ApplicationUser user = UserManager.FindByName(userName); //TODO: UserManager is NULLL !!!

                    HttpCookie language = new HttpCookie("language");
                    if (user.DefaultLanguage)
                    {
                        language.Value = "fr-CA";
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        language.Value = "en-CA";
                    }
                    Response.Cookies.Add(language);
                }

            }
        }
        catch (Exception e)
        {

        }
        base.Initialize(requestContext);

    }

score 1 · Accepted Answer · 2017-07-12 17:20:10Z

1

I just read the question again. I have some small changes in the answer.

You shouldn't use UserManager at all for this. Just add a claim to the ClaimsIdentity with the language. This also prevents an extra call to the database.

Add the language property to the AppicationUser. Make sure it is added as claim:

public class ApplicationUser : IdentityUser
{
    public string Language { get; set; }

    public async Task<ClaimsIdentity> GenerateUserIdentityAsync(UserManager<ApplicationUser> manager)
    {
        var userIdentity = await manager.CreateIdentityAsync(this, DefaultAuthenticationTypes.ApplicationCookie);

        // Add custom user claims here
        userIdentity.AddClaim(new Claim("Language", Language));

        return userIdentity;
    }
}

In Initialize you can read the claim like this:

 protected override void Initialize(RequestContext requestContext)
{
    try
    {
        // Try claims collection first
        var culture = (System.Security.Claims.ClaimsIdentity)User.Identity).FindFirst("Language").Value;

        // otherwise try cookie
        if (culture == null)
            culture = requestContext.HttpContext.GetOwinContext().Request.Cookies["language"];

        if (culture == null)
        {
            // user is not logged in and there is no cookie
            culture = "fr-CA";
            HttpCookie language = new HttpCookie("language");
            language.Value = culture;
            Response.Cookies.Add(language);
        }
        Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo(culture);
        Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture = CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo(culture);
    }
    catch (Exception e)
    {
    }
    base.Initialize(requestContext);
}

Something like this. Still didn't test it, but this is the idea. Please let me know if something is not clear.

edited Jul 12, 2017 at 17:20

answered Jul 12, 2017 at 16:16

user4864425

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2 Comments

Guillaume Caillé Over a year ago

Hey, I big thanks for your answer! I am currently trying to make this work and I will get back to you as soon as possible with an update

Guillaume Caillé Over a year ago

It works PERFECTLY!! I just had to change some lines for it to work : var identity = (ClaimsIdentity)requestContext.HttpContext.User.Identity; [linebreak]culture = identity.FindFirst("language").Value; and requestContext.HttpContext.GetOwinContext().Response.Cookies.Append("language", culture);

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