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Sometimes when creating SharePoint web or console applications, you may need to execute specific code blocks in another user’s context.
Impersonating users in SharePoint will require a couple of things:
Step 1: Log in as the system account, or get a handle to the system account in your code
string siteStr = "http://mysharepointsite/";
//we just need to get a handle to the site for us
//to get the system account user token
SPSite tempSite = new SPSite(siteStr);
SPUserToken systoken = tempSite.SystemAccount.UserToken;
using (SPSite site = new SPSite(siteStr, systoken))
{
using (SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb())
{
//right now, logged in as Site System Account
Console.WriteLine("Currently logged in as: " +
web.CurrentUser.ToString());
//add your code here
}
}
Step 2: Before you impersonate, get the user token of the user you are switching to. For example:
//get this current user's user token
SPUserToken userToken = web.AllUsers[user].UserToken;
//create an SPSite object in the context of this user
SPSite s = new SPSite(siteStr, userToken);
SPWeb w = s.OpenWeb();
Console.WriteLine("Currently logged in as: " +
w.CurrentUser.ToString() +
"(" + w.CurrentUser.Name + ")"
);
Complete code follows:
Step 2: Before you impersonate, get the user token of the user you are switching to. For example:
private static void impersonateTest()
{
string siteStr = "http://mysharepointsite/";
SPSite tempSite = new SPSite(siteStr);
SPUserToken systoken = tempSite.SystemAccount.UserToken;
using (SPSite site = new SPSite(siteStr, systoken))
{
using (SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb())
{
//right now, logged in as Site System Account
Console.WriteLine("Currently logged in as: " +
web.CurrentUser.ToString());
switchUser(web, siteStr, "BlackNinjaSoftware/MatthewCarriere");
switchUser(web, siteStr, "BlackNinjaSoftware/ShereenQumsieh");
switchUser(web, siteStr, "BlackNinjaSoftware/DonabelSantos");
}
}
}
private static void switchUser(SPWeb web, string siteStr, string user)
{
//impersonate somebody else
SPUserToken userToken = web.AllUsers[user].UserToken;
SPSite s = new SPSite(siteStr, userToken);
SPWeb w = s.OpenWeb();
Console.WriteLine("Currently logged in as: " +
w.CurrentUser.ToString() +
"(" + w.CurrentUser.Name + ")"
);
}