I'm writing a web application which uses windows authentication and I can happily get the user's login name using something like:
string login = User.Identity.Name.ToString(); But I don't need their login name I want their DisplayName. I've been banging my head for a couple hours now...
Can I access my organisation's AD via a web application?
c# active-directory web-development howto
edited Mar 10 '09 at 3:13
Geoffrey Chetwood
7,596●4●19●38
asked Oct 29 '08 at 11:56
DrG
2,508●9●28
86% accept rate
5 Answers
6 
How about this:
private static string GetFullName() { try { DirectoryEntry de = new DirectoryEntry("WinNT://" + Environment.UserDomainName + "/" + Environment.UserName); return de.Properties["fullName"].Value.ToString(); } catch { return null; } } answered Oct 29 '08 at 13:01
Ben
This is the best way to do it for single user propreties. – thismat Oct 29 '08 at 13:08
Yeah, I'm liking the simplicity of this ALOT, especially since it works. I owe you a drink! – DrG Oct 29 '08 at 15:30
This did work, but the WINNT:// properties are a lot less comprehesive than the LDAP:// properties (see rlmueller.net/Name_Attributes.htm) so while this did work, I was unable to get say user's email addresses using the WINNT:// binding – DrG Nov 11 '08 at 19:44
6
See related question: Active Directory: Retrieve User information
See also: Howto: (Almost) Everything In Active Directory via C# and more specifically section "Enumerate an object's properties".
If you have a path to connect to a group in a domain, the following snippet may be helpful:
GetUserProperty("<myaccount>", "DisplayName"); public static string GetUserProperty(string accountName, string propertyName) { DirectoryEntry entry = new DirectoryEntry(); // "LDAP://CN=<group name>, CN =<Users>, DC=<domain component>, DC=<domain component>,..." entry.Path = "LDAP://..."; entry.AuthenticationType = AuthenticationTypes.Secure; DirectorySearcher search = new DirectorySearcher(entry); search.Filter = "(SAMAccountName=" + accountName + ")"; search.PropertiesToLoad.Add(propertyName); SearchResultCollection results = search.FindAll(); if (results != null && results.Count > 0) { return results[0].Properties[propertyName][0].ToString(); } else { return "Unknown User"; } } answered Oct 29 '08 at 12:47
Panos
4,979●5●22
2
There is a CodePlex project for Linq to AD, if you're interested.
It's also covered in the book LINQ Unleashed for C# by Paul Kimmel - he uses the above project as his starting point.
not affiliated with either source - I just read the book recently
answered Oct 29 '08 at 13:17
GalacticCowboy
3,960●6●22
2
In case anyone cares I managed to crack this one:
/// This is some imaginary code to show you how to use it Session["USER"] = User.Identity.Name.ToString(); Session["LOGIN"] = RemoveDomainPrefix(User.Identity.Name.ToString()); // not a real function :D string ldappath = "LDAP://your_ldap_path"; // "LDAP://CN=<group name>, CN =<Users>, DC=<domain component>, DC=<domain component>,..." Session["cn"] = GetAttribute(ldappath, (string)Session["LOGIN"], "cn"); Session["displayName"] = GetAttribute(ldappath, (string)Session["LOGIN"], "displayName"); Session["mail"] = GetAttribute(ldappath, (string)Session["LOGIN"], "mail"); Session["givenName"] = GetAttribute(ldappath, (string)Session["LOGIN"], "givenName"); Session["sn"] = GetAttribute(ldappath, (string)Session["LOGIN"], "sn"); /// working code public static string GetAttribute(string ldappath, string sAMAccountName, string attribute) { string OUT = string.Empty; try { DirectoryEntry de = new DirectoryEntry(ldappath); DirectorySearcher ds = new DirectorySearcher(de); ds.Filter = "(&(objectClass=user)(objectCategory=person)(sAMAccountName=" + sAMAccountName + "))"; SearchResultCollection results = ds.FindAll(); foreach (SearchResult result in results) { OUT = GetProperty(result, attribute); } } catch (Exception t) { // System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(t.Message); } return (OUT != null) ? OUT : string.Empty; } public static string GetProperty(SearchResult searchResult, string PropertyName) { if (searchResult.Properties.Contains(PropertyName)) { return searchResult.Properties[PropertyName][0].ToString(); } else { return string.Empty; } }