ASP.NET profiles offer persistent storage and retrieval of user-specific properties. Profile property values and information are stored in a data source in a manner determined by the ProfileProvider implementation. You can use the profile providers that are included with the .NET Framework (represented by the classes that derive from the ProfileProvider abstract class), or you can implement your own provider by creating a new class that derives from ProfileProvider.

There are two primary reasons for creating a custom profile provider.

• You need to store profile information in a data source that is not supported by the profile providers included with the .NET Framework, such as a FoxPro database, an Oracle database, or other data stores.

• You need to manage profile information using a database schema that is different from the database schema used by the providers that ship with the .NET Framework. A common example of this would be user data that already exists in a SQL Server database for a company network or a Web site.

The ProfileProvider abstract class inherits from the SettingsProvider abstract class, which inherits from the ProviderBase abstract class. Classes that implement ProfileProvider must also implement the required members of the SettingsProvider and ProviderBase abstract classes. For more information about implementing a profile provider, see Implementing a Profile Provider.

For an example of a ProfileProvider implementation, see Sample Profile Provider Implementation.

• AspNetHostingPermission  for operating in a hosted environment. Demand value: LinkDemand; Permission value: Minimal.
• AspNetHostingPermission  for operating in a hosted environment. Demand value: InheritanceDemand; Permission value: Minimal.

Windows 98, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Starter Edition

.NET Framework