How To Store Custom Data In Membership Cookie

give me an example (or point me in the right direction) on how to store custom data in an ASP.NET Membership cookie? I need to add some custom properties like UserID and URLSlug to the cookie and be able to retrieve the information in the same way one would retrieve the Username.

Edit:

I used Code Poet's example and came up with the following.

When I set a breakpoint at Dim SerializedUser As String = SerializeUser(userData) the value of userData is right. It has all the properties I expect it to have.

The problem I'm now running into is that when I get to Dim userdata As String = authTicket.UserData (breakpoint), the value is "". I'd love to figure out what I'm doing wrong.

Here's the code.

Imports System
Imports System.Web
Imports System.Web.Security
Namespace Utilities.Authentication
Public NotInheritable Class CustomAuthentication
Private Sub New()
End Sub
Public Shared Function CreateAuthCookie(ByVal userName As String, ByVal userData As Domain.Models.UserSessionModel, ByVal persistent As Boolean) As HttpCookie
Dim issued As DateTime = DateTime.Now
''# formsAuth does not expose timeout!? have to hack around the
''# spoiled parts and keep moving..
Dim fooCookie As HttpCookie = FormsAuthentication.GetAuthCookie("foo", True)
Dim formsTimeout As Integer = Convert.ToInt32((fooCookie.Expires - DateTime.Now).TotalMinutes)
Dim expiration As DateTime = DateTime.Now.AddMinutes(formsTimeout)
Dim cookiePath As String = FormsAuthentication.FormsCookiePath
Dim SerializedUser As String = SerializeUser(userData)
Dim ticket = New FormsAuthenticationTicket(0, userName, issued, expiration, True, SerializedUser, cookiePath)
Return CreateAuthCookie(ticket, expiration, persistent)
End Function
Public Shared Function CreateAuthCookie(ByVal ticket As FormsAuthenticationTicket, ByVal expiration As DateTime, ByVal persistent As Boolean) As HttpCookie
Dim creamyFilling As String = FormsAuthentication.Encrypt(ticket)
Dim cookie = New HttpCookie(FormsAuthentication.FormsCookieName, creamyFilling) With { _
.Domain = FormsAuthentication.CookieDomain, _
.Path = FormsAuthentication.FormsCookiePath _
}
If persistent Then
cookie.Expires = expiration
End If
Return cookie
End Function
Public Shared Function RetrieveAuthUser() As Domain.Models.UserSessionModel
Dim cookieName As String = FormsAuthentication.FormsCookieName
Dim authCookie As HttpCookie = HttpContext.Current.Request.Cookies(cookieName)
Dim authTicket As FormsAuthenticationTicket = FormsAuthentication.Decrypt(authCookie.Value)
Dim userdata As String = authTicket.UserData
Dim usersessionmodel As New Domain.Models.UserSessionModel
usersessionmodel = DeserializeUser(userdata)
Return usersessionmodel
End Function
Private Shared Function SerializeUser(ByVal usersessionmodel As Domain.Models.UserSessionModel) As String
Dim bf As New Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary.BinaryFormatter()
Dim mem As New IO.MemoryStream
bf.Serialize(mem, usersessionmodel)
Return Convert.ToBase64String(mem.ToArray())
End Function
Private Shared Function DeserializeUser(ByVal serializedusersessionmodel As String) As Domain.Models.UserSessionModel
Dim bf As New Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary.BinaryFormatter()
Dim mem As New IO.MemoryStream(Convert.FromBase64String(serializedusersessionmodel))
Return DirectCast(bf.Deserialize(mem), Domain.Models.UserSessionModel)
End Function
End Class
End Namespace
Here's where I create all the magic. This method is in a "BaseController" class that inherits System.Web.Mvc.Controller
Protected Overrides Function CreateActionInvoker() As System.Web.Mvc.IActionInvoker
If User.Identity.IsAuthenticated Then ''# this if statement will eventually also check to make sure that the cookie actually exists.
Dim sessionuser As Domain.Models.UserSessionModel = New Domain.Models.UserSessionModel(OpenIdService.GetOpenId(HttpContext.User.Identity.Name).User)
HttpContext.Response.Cookies.Add(UrbanNow.Core.Utilities.Authentication.CustomAuthentication.CreateAuthCookie(HttpContext.User.Identity.Name, sessionuser, True))
End If
End Function
And here's how I try and retrieve the info.
Dim user As Domain.Models.UserSessionModel = CustomAuthentication.RetrieveAuthUser