Access remote xml file using Credentials

[Ianb]

Hi

I'm trying to access an xml document outside my site root to do some
manipulation and I'm getting an error (on the while statement):

The remote server returned an error: (401) Unauthorized.

I guess this is because I don't have permissions on the file but I've been
trying to set credentials before the file access. Can any one see what I'm
doing wrong - Heres my code:
------------------------------------
WebClient oWebClient = new WebClient();
oWebClient.Credentials = CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials;

string sResource = docRecord.Filepath + docRecord.Filename;
Stream oStream = oWebClient.OpenRead(sResource);

StreamReader oSR = new StreamReader(oStream);

// create an instance of the XmlDocument object
XmlTextReader oXmlRdr = new XmlTextReader(oSR.ReadToEnd());

oXmlRdr.WhitespaceHandling = WhitespaceHandling.None;
while(oXmlRdr.Read()) {
// ... xml manipulation
}

// close the object and free up memory
oXmlRdr.Close();
oStream.Close();
-----------------------------------
and corresponding web.config entry:

<authentication mode = "Forms">
<forms>
<credentials passwordFormat = "Clear">
<user name ="ianb" password = "******"/>
</credentials>
</forms>
</authentication>
<authorization>
<deny users = "?"/>
</authorization>

===============================
I have also tried the following and got the same result:
WebClient oWebClient = new WebClient();
NetworkCredential oCred = new NetworkCredential("ianb", "******");
oWebClient.Credentials = oCred;
String strURL = "http://validURL/XMLPage.xml";
Stream oStream = oWebClient.OpenRead(strURL);
StreamReader oSR = new StreamReader(oStream);

XmlTextReader oXmlRdr = new XmlTextReader(oSR.ReadToEnd());
oXmlRdr.WhitespaceHandling = WhitespaceHandling.None;

while(oXmlRdr.Read()) {
// ... xml manipulation
}

// close the object and free up memory
oXmlRdr.Close();
oStream.Close();
-------------------------------------
I would prefer to use the web.config option. Can anyone help me with this

Thanks

Ian B

 

[Joe Kaplan \(MVP - ADSI\)]

Did you try supplying explicit credentials in the Credentials property
instead of DefaultCredentials?

Joe K.

 

[Ianb]

Hi Joe

Only in the form I've shown you in the second coding attempt... ie:
NetworkCredential oCred = new NetworkCredential("ianb", "******");
oWebClient.Credentials = oCred;

is there another way to do this?

Ian

 

[Joe Kaplan \(MVP - ADSI\)]

Is the other site using Forms authentication as well? If so, you are going
to have to do some extra work to authenticate with it.

You will either need to screen scrape the logon screen to do the correct
Form post to get the logon cookie, or you will need to configure things so
that you can pass your ASP.NET forms authentication cookie to the other site
directly.

All this stuff having to do with DefaultCredentials and such only works with
Windows authentication.

Joe K.

 

[Ianb]

Hi Joe

To clarify, I am trying to access a Word XML format document in a sharepoint
library from a custom ASPX file in an excluded directory under the same
sharepoint site.

So I guess the sharepoint site is using the same web.config hense yes the
other site is using forms authentication.

The site uses windows authentication so (from what you are saying) I am
heading the right way but I have some errors in my code.

Ian

 

[Joe Kaplan \(MVP - ADSI\)]

Ok,

If the target file is on a SharePoint site, then it is almost certainly
using Windows authentication, not Forms authentication. You should be able
to tell by whether you are sent to a custom logon form when you first point
your browser to it or whether the browser prompts you or logs you on
automatically.

If it is Windows authentication (which it should be), then you should be
able to get the NetworkCredential approach to work. You might try adding a
valid domain to your constructor:

NetworkCredential oCred = new NetworkCredential("ianb", "******",
"iansdomain");

If that doesn't work, please provide more details and we'll see what we can
do.

Joe K.

 

[Ianb]

Good thinking but I'm still not winning. I put some exception trapping in and
here is the response:
System.Net.WebException: The remote server returned an error: (401)
Unauthorized. at System.Net.HttpWebRequest.CheckFinalStatus() at
System.Net.HttpWebRequest.EndGetResponse(IAsyncResult asyncResult) at
System.Net.HttpWebRequest.GetResponse() at
System.Xml.XmlDownloadManager.GetNonFileStream(Uri uri, ICredentials
credentials) at System.Xml.XmlDownloadManager.GetStream(Uri uri, ICredentials
credentials) at System.Xml.XmlUrlResolver.GetEntity(Uri absoluteUri, String
role, Type ofObjectToReturn) at System.Xml.XmlTextReader.CreateScanner() at
System.Xml.XmlTextReader.Init() at System.Xml.XmlTextReader.Read() at
ASP.DocumentBuilder_aspx.Page_Load() in
D:\Inetpub\wwwroot\WorkSQE\scripts\DocumentBuilder.aspx:line 58


Ian

 

[Joe Kaplan \(MVP - ADSI\)]

The trick to this is going to be figuring out what credentials you need to
access the SharePoint server and then pass those in the correct format. I
suggest setting IE to always prompt for Windows Integrated authentication
and then make sure you pass the same stuff in your WebRequest via the
Credentials property. WebRequest is really just doing what the browser is
doing, so your goal is to make sure you can simulate that properly.

I'm not sure what else I can tell you without having more details about how
the authentication with SharePoint is working.

Joe K.