How should I add a user email address for a user with ASP.NET Identity 2

Question

I have a WebAPI application and I would like to add an email to the information I store for each user. Although there are many examples out there I am not sure those are now the recommended way to go with Identity 2. In particular I notice that Identity 2 now has extension methods to deal with email.

UserManagerExtensions.FindByEmail Method

But how can I store the email so that I can use this extension method? Do I need to store it here and if so can I store it as a claim ?

public class ApplicationUser : IdentityUser {
    public async Task<ClaimsIdentity> GenerateUserIdentityAsync(UserManager<ApplicationUser> manager) {
        // Note the authenticationType must match the one defined in CookieAuthenticationOptions.AuthenticationType
        var userIdentity = await manager.CreateIdentityAsync(this, DefaultAuthenticationTypes.ApplicationCookie);
        // Add custom user claims here
        return userIdentity;
    }
    // I don't want to add email here 
}

However I am not sure how to do this:

• Should I some add the email into the above where it says "// Add custom user claims here" and if so then how would I do that?

• Should I make a change to the registration method below and if so then how should I do that?

  [AllowAnonymous]
  [Route("Register")]
  public async Task<IHttpActionResult> Register(RegisterBindingModel model)
  {
      if (!ModelState.IsValid)
      {
          return BadRequest(ModelState);
      }
  
      IdentityUser user = new IdentityUser
      {
          UserName = model.UserName
      };
  
      IdentityResult result = await UserManager.CreateAsync(user, model.Password);
      IHttpActionResult errorResult = GetErrorResult(result);
  
      if (errorResult != null)
      {
          return errorResult;
      }
  
      return Ok();
  }
  

I would appreciate some advice on how to do this. Note that I am using a token based approach with claims in an Identity2 application. If possible I am looking to do this with claims and not just by adding columns to the user table.

Answer 1

The IdentityUser class already contains a property for the email address, so there's no need to duplicate that. You only have to set that property during the registration process, similar to the following snippet

IdentityUser user = new IdentityUser
{
    UserName = model.UserName,
    Email = model.Email
};

Don't forget to extend your RegisterViewModel and the Register view with that additional property and field.