subcontroller/partialrequest and form action method

Question

What I need to do is the following

1. Set small login form (or any partial view)
2. Complete login actions
3. Get back to the SAME place (controller/action) user was before clicking LOGIN button

Any of Partial Request/Subcontroller,RenderAction solutions offer this without any extra code to handle parent page url?

Answer 1

You could try the following:

1. Create a new user MVC User Control (Login.ascx) in which you setup a login form:

   <%@ Control Language="C#" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewUserControl" %>
   <% using (Html.BeginForm("authenticate", "login")) { %>
       <%= Html.Hidden("returnurl", Request.Url.ToString()) %>
       <div>
           <label for="username">Username</label>
           <%= Html.TextBox("username") %>
       </div>
       <div>
           <label for="password">Password</label>
           <%= Html.TextBox("password") %>
       </div>
       <input type="submit" value="Login" />
   <% } %>
   

2. Include this partial in some view page:

   <% if (!User.Identity.IsAuthenticated) { %>
       <% Html.RenderPartial("~/Views/Home/Login.ascx"); %>
   <% } else { %>
       Welcome <%= Html.Encode(User.Identity.Name) %>
   <%} %>
   

3. In your login controller verify username and password and if authentication is successful redirect to returnUrl:

   public class LoginController : Controller
   {
       [AcceptVerbs(HttpVerbs.Post)]
       public ActionResult Authenticate(string username, string password, string returnurl)
       {
           // TODO: Perform authentication, set cookies,
           // verify that returnurl belongs to your site, etc...
           return Redirect(returnurl);
       }
   }