How to get full login name from people picker using object model?

Question

Using the object model, I've retrieved the value from a people picker using standard method, and it returns a string value like this:

1#Username

I have a problem with this because I was expecting the full username, including the domain. For example:

1#MyCompanyDomain\Username

There must be a way to get the full user and domain name using the object model, but I don't know how.

Answer 1

I'm working with my PeopleEditor control this way:

foreach (var loginName in peopleEditor.CommaSeparatedAccounts.Split(';',','))
{
    SPUser user = SPContext.Current.Web.EnsureUser(loginName);
    // user.LoginName is now returns "domain\login"
}

This code works fine for me.

Update:

Note 1: EnsureUser will add the user to your site (thanks Ivan Padabed for the comment). In most cases it is ok, but better to remember this.

Note 2: This solution in most cases is most preferrable for me, than SPUtility.ResolvePrincipal. At least, because it is avaliable in Sandbox, and ResolvePrincipal isn't.

Answer 2

I believe you might also be able to use:

SPUtility.ResolvePrincipal(webApp, null, login, SPPrincipalType.User, SPPrincipalSource.All, false);

That said, this is slower than the suggestions using EnsureUser, but does have the benefit of not adding the user to the site, and is a bit more flexible, if you need that sort of thing.