[SOLVED] How can I login programmatically into Sitecore?

How can I login programmatically into Sitecore?

How can I login programmatically into Sitecore? For example if you would like to connect a small part of the Sitecore API to a desktop application, you would need to login into sitecore first to access the databases etc.

Can this be done?

Solution

As Mark said, you will need to create a web service that your desktop app will talk to. If you need to deal with permissions in that service you have two options.

Use a SecurityDisabler to make your webservice run in the context of an Admin user.
```
using (new Sitecore.SecurityModel.SecurityDisabler())
{
    // do stuff here
}
```

For more specific control you can use a UserSwitcher.

From the Security API Cookbook page 34

string domainUser = @"domain\user"; 

if (Sitecore.Security.Accounts.User.Exists(domainUser)) 
{ 
    Sitecore.Security.Accounts.User user = 
    Sitecore.Security.Accounts.User.FromName(domainUser,false); 

    using (new Sitecore.Security.Accounts.UserSwitcher(user)) 
    { 
        //TODO: code to invoke as user 
    } 
}