Is it possible to use RedirectToAction() inside a custom AuthorizeAttribute class?

Question

Using ASP.Net MVC 2, is there any way to use the RedirectToAction() method of the Controller class inside a class that is based on the AuthorizeAttribute class?

Answer 1

In case anyone else is interested in this question. This can be solved in a simpler way (at least using MVC 3, don't know about MVC 2):

Just create a small private controller in your custom AuthorizeAttribute:

    private class RedirectController : Controller
    {
        public ActionResult RedirectWhereever()
        {
            return RedirectToAction("Action", "Controller");
        }

    }

This can easily be used in your HandleUnauthorizedRequest method (see Craigs answer):

filterContext.Result = (new RedirectController()).RedirectWhereever();

Answer 2

You can/should override HandleUnauthorizedRequest instead of OnAuthorization. Here's the default implementation:

    protected virtual void HandleUnauthorizedRequest(AuthorizationContext filterContext) {
        // Returns HTTP 401 - see comment in HttpUnauthorizedResult.cs.
        filterContext.Result = new HttpUnauthorizedResult();
    }

You can't use Controller.RedirectToAction, but you can return a new RedirectToRouteResult.

So you can do:

    protected override void HandleUnauthorizedRequest(AuthorizationContext filterContext) {
        // Returns HTTP 401 - see comment in HttpUnauthorizedResult.cs.
        filterContext.Result = new RedirectToRouteResult(
                                   new RouteValueDictionary 
                                   {
                                       { "action", "ActionName" },
                                       { "controller", "ControllerName" }
                                   });
    }

Answer 3

You can do something like this:

var routeValues = new RouteValueDictionary();
routeValues["controller"] = "ControllerName";
routeValues["action"] = "ActionName";
//Other route values if needed.
context.Result = new RedirectToRouteResult(routeValues);

This is the way the framework does it when you call "RedirectToAction()" in your controller.