Using SharePoint Webservices from External (non-SharePoint) Applications

Question

We have an ASP.NET MVC application that is not part of SharePoint. However, it'd be preferable to leverage SharePoint's security framework. For instance, when the user enters username/password in the non-SharePoint app, could it call a SharePoint webservice to authenticate the user? Or is there any other way to achieve this?

Answer 1

To use the SharePoint Security framework you will have to run your application inside the context of the SharePoint. One quick solution to achieve this is to create a Virtual Directory under the SharePoint web application and place your code there and you will have the full sharepoint context.

Answer 2

It all depends, if SharePoint uses AD then I see no added value in authenticating with SharePoint. If SharePoint uses forms-based authentication, I would create a custom web service running on the SharePoint server that allows you to authenticate users. That way if you ever need it again for another application you can use that webservice / wcf service.