ASP.NET Identity - Extend available fields of User.Identity - asp.net-mvc

Question

I'm struggling to show FirstName in my shared view. Please see my the code below and let me know where I got it wrong.
The AppUser class in IdentityModels has been extended to include FirstName.
In debug mode, var claim is null and I couldn't figure out why?
IdentityExtensions.cs
public static class IdentityExtensions
{
public static string FirstName(this IPrincipal usr)
{
var claim = ((ClaimsIdentity)usr.Identity).FindFirst("FirstName");
// Test for null to avoid issues during local testing
return (claim != null) ? claim.Value : string.Empty;
}
}
AppUser.cs
public class AppUser : IdentityUser
{
public string FirstName { get; set; }
public async Task<ClaimsIdentity> GenerateUserIdentityAsync(UserManager<AppUser> manager)
{
// Note the authenticationType must match the one defined in CookieAuthenticationOptions.AuthenticationType
var userIdentity = await manager.CreateIdentityAsync(this, DefaultAuthenticationTypes.ApplicationCookie);
// Add custom user claims here
userIdentity.AddClaim(new Claim("FirstName", FirstName));
userIdentity.AddClaim(new Claim("Surname", Surname));
return userIdentity;
}
}
In the view, I could see the method FirstName(), however it returns empty string
_Layout.cshtml
#HttpContext.Current.User.FirstName()
AccountController.cs
public class AccountController : Controller
{
public async Task<ActionResult> SignIn(LoginViewModel model, string returnUrl)
{
if (!ModelState.IsValid)
{
return View(model);
}
var result = await SignInManager.PasswordSignInAsync(model.Email, model.Password, model.RememberMe, shouldLockout: false);
switch (result)
{
case SignInStatus.Success:
return RedirectToLocal(returnUrl);
case SignInStatus.LockedOut:
return View("Lockout");
case SignInStatus.RequiresVerification:
return RedirectToAction("SendCode", new { ReturnUrl = returnUrl, RememberMe = model.RememberMe });
case SignInStatus.Failure:
default:
ModelState.AddModelError("", "Invalid login attempt.");
return View(model);
}
}
}

Answer 1

CreateUserIdentityAsync was missing. By adding it, I managed to get the FirstName and other properties I added.
public class ApplicationSignInManager : SignInManager<AppUser, string>
{
public override Task<ClaimsIdentity> CreateUserIdentityAsync(AppUser user)
{
return user.GenerateUserIdentityAsync((ApplicationUserManager)UserManager);
}
}
Thanks

Answer 2

simply just edit your Register Action to this
var user = new ApplicationUser { UserName = model.Email, Email = model.Email, FirstName = "MyFirstName" };
you have to set the value of the FirstName in your Register Action