IUserContext

Namespace: RA.Utilities.Authorization

The IUserContext interface is a strongly-typed, injectable contract that simplifies access to the claims of the currently authenticated user. It is implemented internally by the UserContext class, which wraps the user's ClaimsPrincipal from the current HttpContext.

v10.0.2 change: IUserContext replaces the concrete AppUser class from earlier versions. Register it with AddUserContext() and inject IUserContext instead of AppUser. See the migration guide.

v10.0.3 change: AddUserContext() now registers this interface directly and no longer registers IHttpContextAccessor as a side effect — call builder.Services.AddHttpContextAccessor() yourself.

🎯 Purpose

In a typical application, retrieving user information involves injecting IHttpContextAccessor into your controllers or services and manually parsing the ClaimsPrincipal. This is repetitive and makes unit testing difficult.

IUserContext solves these problems by:

1. Abstracting HttpContext: It exposes the user's claims through a clean, injectable interface that doesn't require a direct dependency on HttpContext.
2. Simplifying Claim Access: It offers simple properties for common claims like Id, Name, and Email without needing to know the underlying claim type strings.
3. Enhancing Testability: Because it's an interface, you can mock IUserContext directly in your unit tests — no IHttpContextAccessor or HttpContext construction required.

✨ Key Benefits:

1. Simplified Access: Inject IUserContext instead of IHttpContextAccessor to get user data.
2. Strongly-Typed: Provides string? Id and Guid UserId properties, plus Name and Email.
3. Testability: Mock IUserContext with any mocking framework to simulate different user scenarios.
4. Reduced Boilerplate: Eliminates repetitive code for accessing user claims.

namespace RA.Utilities.Authorization;

/// <summary>
/// Provides a strongly-typed way to access the claims of the currently authenticated user.
/// </summary>
public interface IUserContext
{
    bool IsAuthenticated { get; }
    string? Id { get; }
    Guid UserId { get; }
    string? Email { get; }
    string? Name { get; }
    string? GetClaimValue(string claimType);
    IEnumerable<string> GetClaimValues(string claimType);
    bool HasClaim(string claimType, string claimValue);
    bool HasScope(string scopeValue);
    bool IsInRole(string roleName);
}

🚀 Usage

Step 1: Register the Service

In your Program.cs, register IHttpContextAccessor (required by the implementation) and call AddUserContext() to register IUserContext as scoped.

// Program.cs
using RA.Utilities.Authorization.Extensions;

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.Services.AddHttpContextAccessor();
builder.Services.AddUserContext();

Step 2: Inject and Use IUserContext

Inject IUserContext into your controllers or services to access user information.

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Authorization;
using RA.Utilities.Authorization;

[ApiController]
[Route("api/[controller]")]
[Authorize]
public class ProfileController : ControllerBase
{
    private readonly IUserContext _user;

    public ProfileController(IUserContext user)
    {
        _user = user;
    }

    [HttpGet]
    public IActionResult GetUserProfile()
    {
        var userInfo = new
        {
            UserId = _user.UserId,
            Name = _user.Name,
            Email = _user.Email,
            IsAdmin = _user.IsInRole("Admin")
        };

        return Ok(userInfo);
    }
}

API Reference

Member	Type	Description
IsAuthenticated	bool	Whether the current user is authenticated.
Id	string?	The user's unique identifier from the NameIdentifier claim, or null.
UserId	Guid	The user's unique identifier as a Guid. Throws InvalidOperationException if not authenticated or not a valid Guid.
Name	string?	The user's name from the Name claim, or null.
Email	string?	The user's email from the Email claim, or null.
IsInRole(string roleName)	bool	Whether the user is a member of the specified role.
HasClaim(string claimType, string claimValue)	bool	Whether the user has a claim with the given type and value.
HasScope(string scopeValue)	bool	Whether the user has the specified OAuth 2.0 / OIDC scope. Handles space-separated scopes.
GetClaimValue(string claimType)	string?	The value of the first claim with the specified type, or null.
GetClaimValues(string claimType)	IEnumerable<string>	All values for a specific claim type.